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Farms collect federal subsidies, pollution finesTULSA, Okla. (AP)--The federal government has awarded millions of dollars in subsidies to Oklahoma animal farms that have been fined for violating state and federal environmental laws, a published report shows. An investigation by the Tulsa World found that 56 penalized farms have collected more than $2.5 million in subsidies in recent years, according to an analysis of data from the U.S. and Oklahoma departments of agriculture. Offenses include dumping manure into surface water, allowing toxins to contaminate groundwater, failing to obtain federal permits and allowing dead animals to rot on site, federal and state records show. Single fines have ranged from $100 to $145,000. In all, the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture fined the 56 farms nearly $400,000 since 1997. Seven farms were fined several times, and others have had Environmental Protection Agency actions placed against them. Kimsey Land and Cattle of Guymon, for example, received an EPA administrative order in 2003 for violating its permit. That year, it collected $6,000 in subsidies. McNeff Dairy in Chickasha received an EPA administrative order in 2004 for failing to dispose of animal waste properly. That year, it collected $30,300 in subsidies. "Anyone who is caught violating the Clean Water Act, polluting the environment, causing a public nuisance with dead animals should not be treated as the next farmer who is not causing those problems," said Michelle Perez, a senior analyst for the Environmental Working Group, a Washington nonprofit. "The average taxpayer would be appalled and horrified." John Johnson, the deputy administrator for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Farm Service Agency, said the fines assessed to farms for polluting and the subsidies awarded to them for conservation or crop production should not affect one another. Perez said that the federal government is enabling the pollution by subsidizing those who are fined. "If you get taxpayer support and you're allowed to do all sorts of environmental and public health problems, it definitely sounds like the system is broken," Perez said. 11/17/08 Date: 11/13/08 Advertisement
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