FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - October 8, 2015 Contact: Craig Volland, Kansas Sierra Club Agriculture Committee Chair, (913) ,

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1 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - October 8, 2015 Contact: Craig Volland, Kansas Sierra Club Agriculture Committee Chair, (913) , hartwood2@kc.rr.com Hog Producer to Reduce Groundwater Protection and Odor Control at Huge New Operation in Kansas Seaboard Foods, LLC is adding 132,000 more hogs to their operations in northern Greeley County while dropping plastic liners from the design of their massive waste impoundments, commonly called lagoons. The new site is called Ladder Creek West and, together with an existing site nine miles to the east, will confine up to 330,000 mature hogs. These operations will generate into a water-short area putrescible wastes equivalent to a city of one million people. Earlier this year Seaboard received permission from KDHE to cut holes in the liner of lagoon #3 at their existing Ladder Creek site to vent gases from leaking wastewater that lifted the liner to the surface. Number 3 is one of fourteen lagoons at that site. For this new project Seaboard proposes to place sheets of High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) only on the side-slopes of the lagoons, not on the bottoms. In 1997, while building out their network of operations in Oklahoma and Kansas, Seaboard pledged to fully line all their new lagoons with plastic to reassure county residents. In addition, KDHE has allowed Seaboard to substitute wastewater for clean water to pre-fill their lagoons at startup, and they have allowed Seaboard to reduce the level of dilution water needed to maintain treatment. Both of these steps will increase the potential for offensive odors at the site that is two to three miles south of the Wallace County line. "While no system is perfect, the lack of HDPE liners over the compacted soil on the lagoon bottoms will ensure the build-up below of a large mass of nitrogen after 25 five years of operation," said Craig Volland, Agriculture Committee Chair of the Kansas Chapter of the Sierra Club. "Neither Seaboard nor KDHE have committed to specific criteria for the removal of this pollution when the site is abandoned." Theoretically the massive flow of waste from these sites could be used to grow crops nearby, but that would likely require far more irrigation water than exists in the area. The Kansas Geological Survey has declared almost all of the Ogallala aquifer in northern Greeley County "effectively exhausted" for normal agricultural purposes. In previous proceedings KDHE has said they are not responsible for ensuring there is enough water to sustain these operations over their lifetimes.

2 KDHE is now taking comments on the permit application. For more details, please consult the following Fact Sheet and/or contact Craig Volland at or by to ### FACT SHEET ON SEABOARD HOG FACTORIES IN GREELEY COUNTY 1. Background & History. In 2010, residents of Greeley County, Kansas voted 190 to 171 to allow corporate hog production. Seaboard Foods, LLC had proposed to build 120 barns holding a total of 120,000 hogs.[1] In December, 2011, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) issued a permit to Seaboard to build the Ladder Creek complex of intensive hog confinements (CAFOs) in northeast Greeley County to confine up to 132,000 mature hogs or up to 264,000 smaller hogs. In Feb KDHE approved a new permit to allow expansion of the Ladder Creek operation to include as many as 198,000 mature hogs or 396,000 smaller hogs. The Ladder Creek operation is currently the second largest hog CAFO in the US and may be viewed (viewed here at link 1) as of June 20, The current proposal is an application for a new complex of hog sites to hold as many as 132,000 mature hogs or 264,000 smaller hogs some nine miles due west of the existing site. Altogether the two sites will generate putrescible wastes (feces and urine) equivalent to a city of one million people.[2] 2. Diminishing Protection for Groundwater Manure lagoons. The existing Ladder Creek project consists of fourteen unusually large anaerobic waste treatment impoundments, commonly called lagoons, each ranging from eight to eleven acres in area. The new site will consist of 9 additional lagoons of this size range. Seaboard's pledge. In1997 the company was systematically expanding operations throughout southwestern Kansas and northwest Oklahoma to accommodate their hog slaughterhouse in Guymon, Oklahoma. In order to relieve local citizen concerns about groundwater contamination, Seaboard instituted a voluntary policy of installing full coverage high-density polyethylene (HDPE) liners in all their new waste impoundments.[3] These plastic liners would be installed as extra protection over the required compacted soil liners. The company maintained this policy at numerous sites in Kansas of which we have record until 2011 when they filed their application to build their Ladder Creek operation in Greeley County. KDHE approved their application without the plastic liners over the objections of the Sierra Club. Just prior to construction, however, Seaboard decided to

3 add the liners for erosion control, they said. All fourteen lagoons at the Ladder Creek site were lined throughout with HDPE. Liner Leak. Not long after start-up, however, the liner at lagoon #3 floated to the surface on one end (viewed here at Link 2). In February of 2015 Seaboard received permission from KDHE to cut holes in this plastic liner to vent the gases. This has resulted in a pattern of bubbling gas columns, a couple of which are large enough to makes visible waves on the surface (viewed here at link 3 and viewed here at link 4). The Sierra Club has filed a complaint with KDHE contending that this amount of biological activity is indicative of substantial leakage of wastewater in and under the compacted soil liner. This complaint is still under investigation. In any event this incident graphically demonstrates the large volumes air pollution emitted from hog lagoons. Seaboard abandons full coverage HDPE liners at Ladder Creek West. It appears that Seaboard has chosen to avoid this problem in the future by just not covering the bottom of the lagoons at their new site. Permit documents state that they will place HDPE liners only on the lagoon slopes to control erosion. This is confirmed by the lack of mention of plastic liners in the draft permit, unlike the existing Ladder Creek site permit. 3. Seaboard's Inadequate Closure & Remediation Plan The lack of plastic liners on the bottoms of the nine new lagoons at Ladder Creek West raises serious concerns about what will happen when Seaboard abandons this operation. State regulations call for a Closure Plan for a project of this size. According to soil borings, the new site is underlain by alternating strata of sandy, clay soils and more permeable, sandy soils, either clayey sand (SC) or silty sand (SM). Since the lagoon bottoms will lie feet below the original land surface, net of the berms, some will be sitting in or just above this more permeable material. Kansas State University Lagoon Research Project. Beginning in 1998 researchers from the Kansas State University Research and Extension studied aspects of manure lagoon waste composition, seepage and subsoil contamination and remediation. They predicted that a large plume of ammonium-saturated soil would build up under swine lagoons during the 25-year life of such facilities. The depth of this contamination would depend on the permeability and clay content of these soils, the sandier the soils, the larger the plume.[4] Among the report's conclusions, KSU researchers noted: 8. The greatest risk of groundwater contamination from lagoons may occur after facility closure. The large reservoir of ammonium and organic nitrogen beneath many lagoons could convert to nitrate and more readily move toward the water table. and 9. Clean up of lagoon sites may require some excavating and earthmoving. The cost of

4 remediation should be considered at the time of lagoon design. It may prove more economically feasible to use a plastic liner to reduce the costs of clean up at closure. The analyses may be very species and site dependent. In 2002 KSU project lead researcher, J. M. Ham, reiterated these conclusions in a peer reviewed article noting also that over 250 tons of ammonium compounds could accumulate under a 6 acre swine wastewater lagoon after 25 years[5] Seaboard's closure plan. Nowhere in Seaboard's Facility Closure Plan do they acknowledge this eventuality. They list test borings only two feet deep, which is barely through the soil liner. Likewise KDHE has no specific criteria to regulate the cleanup of a large mass of subsurface contamination at a livestock operation. The plan also does not commit Seaboard to fill in the lagoons to level with the surrounding land. This indicates there will be depressions that will accumulate rainwater over time and facilitate aquifer recharge through the contaminated zone. When we last checked with the Bureau of Remediation at KDHE, they told us that the KDHE Livestock Section had never referred to them a manure lagoon for clean up. 4. Northern Greeley County is a Water Short Area. When the existing Ladder Creek site was posted for public comment in 2011, several local residents, who were in a position to know, strongly warned KDHE and Seaboard that there is a severe shortage of water at that site in NE Greeley County. The status of the aquifer at the new site, just to the west, is not much if any better. The latest data from the Kansas Geological Survey (KGS) show that the aquifer in northern Greeley County has been depleted by more than 60% from predevelopment levels, and "(KGS) researchers concluded that parts of the aquifer are effectively exhausted in Greeley, Wichita, and Scott counties" (for typical agricultural use).[6] Neither KDHE nor the Division of Water Resources have required any analysis from Seaboard on how they can expect to properly operate sites containing 330,000 mature hogs above a depleted aquifer especially since, in addition to barn operations, a very large volume of irrigation water will be needed to grow the crops intended to take up the nutrients in the wastewater. With waste generation equivalent to a city of one million people installed in northern Greeley County, it is obvious that the State of Kansas needs to take responsibility for assessing the long term water requirements for these operations. 5. Diminishing Protection from Odor Odor Regulation in Kansas. Animal odor is not regulated under the federal Clean Air Act. Under state law, odor is regulated through separation distances between the barns or lagoon and nearby residences. The 5000 feet separation distance is the same in Kansas whether the hog feeding operation houses 9314 hogs or 200,000 hogs. A neighboring farmer will get the full force of nauseating odors and flies when he or she

5 works his or her fields that abut a CAFO. KDHE readily admits that they have no standard or analytical method by which they can determine whether odor is excessive, so they manage odor complaints on an informal, ad hoc basis. Due to "biosecurity" concerns KDHE inspectors are rarely if ever allowed into the barns to view sanitation practices. Biological treatment. The only other protection that the neighbors have from odor is how well the lagoons treat the waste. KDHE's Design Standards for Confined Feeding Facilities ('06) recommends that producers use biological treatment, rather than just manure storage, whenever a swine CAFO houses more than 2500 mature hogs. This involves the addition of a large quantity of clean dilution water according to an industry standard to ensure adequate biological activity. Minimum biological treatment volume depth. At the time of permitting KDHE is supposed to set the minimum depth of liquid in the lagoon that would reflect the volume needed for adequate treatment including other components of the mix, which are sludge build-up and manure volume (ANSI/ASAE EP403.4 FEB2011). However, KDHE ignores the manure volume component. The easing of standards at the Ladder Creek sites. KDHE issued the permit for the existing Ladder Creek operation in December of The first barns were stocked on July 17, Since then Seaboard has struggled to meet the required minimum biological treatment level that requires a prefill with clean water from the aquifer equal to 50% of that depth. After start-up additional water is added to the process through barns (drinking water and wash-down). The Sierra Club has filed several complaints about the inadequate supply of dilution water to the lagoons to suppress odor, and at one point Seaboard was declared to be in violation of their permit. KDHE's answer has been to loosen the permit condition for dilution water and minimum depth. KDHE allows Seaboard to use their own data to determine the waste load generated by the hogs. Instead of the workbook standard from USDA of 5.4 lb. volatile solids/day/per 1000 lb. animal weight, Seaboard has been allowed to substitute a lower value of 4.33 at the original Ladder Creek project and even less, 4.02 for the new project, citing a manure volume estimation procedure[7] from the same industry group governing the biological treatment design. This allows Seaboard to run the lagoons at a reduced minimum lagoon depth. This has resulted in the following reduction in minimum lagoon liquid levels at the Seaboard site in Greeley County: Min. biological Permit Year No. lagoons treatment level Min. Start-up Level Ladder Creek site: feet 5.0 feet (50% of min.) 2014 expansion feet* 4.50 feet (per permit)

6 Ladder Creek West site: feet * 3.75 feet (50% of min.) * plus sludge depth after 2 years of operation Not so clean start-up water. In August of 2015, for the first time in Kansas that we are aware of, KDHE granted Seaboard permission to substitute wastewater for clean water in the pre-fill of lagoon numbers 11 and 14, the most recent start-ups at the existing Ladder Creek site.[8] KDHE has carried through this concession to the draft permit at Ladder Creek West. Cherry Picking Design Standards. Sufficient dilution water and treatment volume is crucial for maintaining adequate biological activity in the lagoons to reduce the generation of offensive odors. This becomes even more important as the lagoon contents become more saline over time in the arid climate of Greeley County. While citing an ASABE guideline in their favor to reduce the manure-loading factor, Seaboard and KDHE have ignored other guidelines from this same industry source. KDHE has ignored the ASABE guideline to account for manure volume in the minimum depth calculation, and now KDHE is allowing the substitution of wastewater for clean dilution water at start-up. Here's what the ASABE says about that: 6.1 Start-up..... At start-up the primary lagoon should be filled with clean water to at least 60% of the lagoon s treatment volume prior to discharging waste into the lagoon.[9] The reason given by both Seaboard and KDHE has been to save water as a "critical resource." At no time has either party questioned the wisdom of building such a huge operation in a critically water short area. Either of the two operations would qualify as the largest in Kansas. The Ladder Creek site is the second largest in the US. References 1. Garden City Telegram Dec. 22, US GAO, "Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations," GAO , Sep.'08, Page 19: One hog produces 2 tons/yr vs tons/yr by humans. 3. Southwest Daily Times, June 12, Also "Seaboard Farms Environmental Awareness Program Summary" received by KDHE on Feb 25, J. M. Ham, Seepage Losses from Animal Waste Lagoons: A Summary of a Four- Year Investigation in Kansas, in Kansas State University Research and Extension, Animal Waste Management & Utilization Final Report, July 2001, Vol. 1: pp J. M. Ham, "Seepage Losses From Animal Waste Lagoons: A summary of a Four Year Investigation in Kansas," Transactions of the ASAE, Vol. 45(4): , (Fig. 6 &7)

7 7. ASABE D384.2-March 2005(R2010). The American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) used to be called the American Society of Agricultural Engineers (ASAE). 8. Letter dated July 30, 2015 from Seaboard Foods to KDHE and response dated August ANSI/ASAE EP403.4 FEB2011 ###