Pennsylvania Municipality Passes Health Ordinance Targeting CAFOs

Written by Katharine Richter

On August 6, 2015, Codorus Township Board of Supervisors passed a health ordinance intended to “establish health, safety, and welfare regulations for concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs)” in Codorus township.

The ordinance defines four different classes of CAFOs based upon animal equivalent unit (AEU), which classifies by “one thousand pounds live weight of livestock or poultry animals, regardless of individuals compromising the unit.”  The ordinance lists spacing requirements that are required between every class of CAFOs and the distance is “measured from the nearest point of one CAFO’s confinement or waste containment system to the nearest point of another CAFO’s confinement or waste containment system.”  

The ordinance also requires every CAFO to apply for a Township Health Permit which is valid for five years and needs to be renewed every five years.  The fee for a Township Health Permit for a class II CAFO, which is defined as having “a capacity of 1,500 to less than 2,000 AEUs,” is $2,000.  If a CAFO is classified as a class I, meaning it “has the capacity of 2,000 or more AEUs,” the Township Health Permit costs increase to $10,000.

The ordinance contains further measures pertaining to the control of airborne pathogens by installing “filters and UV light systems on all exhaust fan assemblies” and denying Township Health Permits if the Manure Storage Structure fails to meet “compliance with all state and federal regulations.”