When the Alberta government took over responsibility for approving
intensive livestock operations, the disapproval was long and loud.
Municipalities wanted to retain the right to determine where a barn or
feedlot could be located.
Nick Paladino, supervisor of planning and development with the County
of Lethbridge, said he doesn’t miss the complaints associated with ILO
responsibilities.
Before, if someone phoned to complain that a farmer was spreading
manure on frozen ground, Paladino would drop everything, jump in the
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truck and track down the offender.
Now, he tells the informant to phone the National Resources
Conservation Board.
“It’s freed me up to do a lot more other planning work,” Paladino said.
Having the Alberta government’s NRCB in charge of monitoring, siting
and enforcing Alberta’s new confined feeding operations legislation
allows municipalities to take the good cop role, said County of
Lethbridge councilor John Kolk.
Before, if a farmer didn’t agree with municipal bylaws that required
manure to be cultivated into the land or not spread on frozen ground,
the problem was not easy to solve.
“It’s always been difficult for a local municipality to enforce against
the common practice in the area. Where now, with provincial legislation
the rules are there for everyone,” he said.
“Now enforcement is a bit more consistent.”
NRCB chair Brian Bietz said the board had initially hoped to take a
more proactive approach to livestock enforcement concerns, but with
only six approval officers and six field inspectors, there’s only time
to respond to complaints.
From the beginning of the year to the end of September, the NRCB had
received 776 complaints, mostly about runoff and odour.
Those complaints involved 365 operations. One facility, Bacon Acres
near Bentley, Alta., had more than 200 complaints brought against it to
the board.
A recent NRCB report about Bacon Acres, forwarded to the minister of
agriculture, recommended a committee be established to help improve
relations with the operator and the community.
“Obviously something is not working right,” said Bietz.
Both Paladino and Kolk said one of their biggest concerns is the
limited input allowed from community members regarding ILOs. Before,
most municipalities would advertise the development in the local
newspaper. Now the NRCB needs to contact only the affected neighbours.
“We’d just like to see a little more notification given to the
residents in the area,” said Paladino.
Municipalities now play a minor role in the siting of operations. When
an application is filed with the NRCB, the county or municipality is
asked if it has concerns about the location, but the final authority
rests with the NRCB.
“I think a lot of livestock producers would prefer to have
municipalities have control back,” said Kolk.
He thinks the ideal scenario would have been to pass the expensive and
time-consuming enforcement and appeal process to the government but
keep control of the planning process.
“I think overall provincial rules will be the best, but there has been
some bumps along the road.”
Paul Hasselback, chief medical officer with the Chinook Health Region,
said the NRCB has become a stabilizing force around the often
controversial expansion and development of the livestock industry.
“Certainly it has made it easier to work with the ongoing complaints
that we receive, and we still get lots of complaints,” said Hasselback
of Lethbridge, an area with the largest concentration of feedlots in
Canada.
Hasselback wants public health concerns clearly defined in the
legislation to ensure thought is given to public health with each
approval.
“There needs to be an understanding that there still are health
concerns out there. The fact that current legislation overlooked health
remains a concern and remains a problem.”
