In Mount St. Joseph, in western Kentucky, “there is trouble in the air and it comes along with the smell of a large hog farm,” says Ohio Valley ReSource, a public broadcasting project in the Ohio River Valley. A community group says Piggy Express, a recently constructed washing facility for trucks that haul hogs, might produce polluted runoff, but they have little recourse because of the Kentucky’s right-to-farm law.
Don Peters, a member of Community Against Pig Pollution and Disease, says the right-to-farm law “has been hijacked and in this particular case” is “being used as a screen to afford a particular operation to move into what would normally be considered a community.” Piggy Express was built by Jerry O’Bryan, who produces 200,000 slaughter hogs a year.
Right-to-farm laws originated decades ago to shield farmers from nuisance suits as people began building residences in the country. The laws were enacted years before large-scale feedlots became common. “Kentucky’s statute overrules any local or county ordinances with farms in operation for more than one year,” says Ohio Valley ReSource. The land around Piggy Express is zoned for agriculture, although residences have been present for years. Peters says property valuations have dropped 15 to 30 percent since the truck wash opened in February.