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Manitoba CEC Kicks Public Environmental Review of Manitoba Hog Industry

CANADA - The Manitoba Clean Environment Commission has kicked off an eight week series of public review hearings to gather information for its review of the environmental sustainability of hog production within Manitoba.

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Yesterday in Winnipeg the Manitoba Clean Environment Commission hosted the first of 17 public review hearings scheduled for 14 communities.

Submissions will be used as part of a provincially mandated review of the environmental sustainability of hog production.

Commission Chair Terry Sargeant says the panel will look at a range of issues.

Terry Sargeant-Manitoba Clean Environment Commission

It's probably an over simplification to try to boil it down to one or two but issues around manure management is obviously the biggest part of this piece because that affects ground water, it affects surface water, it affects phosphorus, it affects nitrogen, odor.

A number of the issues that we'll be looking at all could come under that umbrella of manure management.

We don't want to make it extremely broad.

I don't think it's necessary for us to do that but we will look to some extent at the economic sustainability of it and we will also look at some social issues as they would relate to environmental sustainability.

We've already received a lot of information from various provincial government departments principally in the way of briefings to bring us, we the members of the panel, up to speed on what these issues are all about or what certain aspects of the industry are all about or how different laws and regulations operate.

We're also engaging some private research and that's largely being sourced from University of Manitoba academics and to some extent from principles with the International Institute for Sustainable Development.

Sargeant says the goal is to complete the review and issue a final report by December.

He notes an interim report could be issued in September but, considering all that's on the table, that's not a guarantee.

ThePigSite News Desk

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