A farm advocacy group is critical of the livestock odor report released Wednesday by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. The study showed just seven percent of the air samples in and around livestock facilities exceeded the level that would make them a problem.
Carissa Lenfert of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement says the report was tragically flawed. “We think that there were serious limitations with the D-N-R in undertaking the project, and so we feel that ultimately the results that they received do not accurately depict what’s really going on out in the countryside,” Lenfert says. She says,”We’ve heard from thousands of Iowans, you know, living next to these hog factories and they say ‘they smell, they stink’, and I don’t think the D-N-R putting out this study is going to change what people are experiencing every day.”
Lenfert says the study lacks some credibility. She says she doesn’t think the D-N-R included “some critical pieces of information” in the report how long it took the D-N-R staffer to respond to an odor complaint. Lenfert says when you’re dealing with the wind, you need to know the time information to understand the study results.
Lenfert says the D-N-R study was a weak attempt to address the problem. Lenfert says the D-N-R did the study because Iowans complained, and want something done. She says the D-N-R needs to “seriously start looking at this issue and sitting down with folks and she says we need some “meaningful” clean air rules. You can see the D-N-R study at:www.iowadnr.com/air/afo/files/Odor.