State Rep. Jeff Harris, one of three major Democrats competing for Missouri attorney general, today issued a proposal that he said will ”combat the growing number of corporate hog farms in Missouri which present a danger to the state’s environment.”

Corporate hog operations have increasingly become a controversial, and unpopular, topic in rural Missouri.

“CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations) are taking over the state’s countryside but heavy rains and flooding demonstrate how their effect reaches beyond rural Missouri,” his campaign said in a release.

“Lagoons on these corporate farms this summer have threatened to overflow and even collapse, dumping tons of raw animal waste into streams and rivers, potentially contaminating drinking water.”

His campaign cites concerns voiced by the Sierra Club and an  official with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.

Harris added that, in the state House, he had “sponsored legislation that would prevent CAFOs from being built next to state parks, making sure these priceless resources are preserved for future generations of Missourians to fish, to hunt and to simply enjoy.”
 
“Right now, our local communities have no control over where these corporate farms get built, and that has got to stop,” said Harris. “Right now, the state closes its doors and prevents the people who know the land best from even being heard. As Attorney General, I will stand up for Missourians and against Big Ag, corporate interests and the political appointees who let them have their way.”
 
He said he would require DNR “to pay attention to local communities and to consider their concerns and opposition before approving new CAFOs,” and would “go after corporate farms that contaminate the ground and water, holding them accountable and making them pay to clean up the mess they leave behind….”