Factory hog farms, as well as the cattle and poultry industries, are pressuring the U.S. Congress to pass a bill that would use taxpayer dollars to help the farms pay for cleaning up their environmental messes. The U.S. EPA is considering costly regulations to reduce pollution from the livestock operations — and the industries don’t want to get stuck with the bill. The House Agriculture Committee has approved a measure that would lift the cap on the size of livestock operations eligible for federal environmental aid. Even the largest and most profitable operations could receive $200,000 of taxpayer dollars over 10 years. Enviros and small-farm advocates are decrying the measure as corporate welfare.
