Researcher ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5313-3945

Graduation Year

2021

Document Type

Campus Only Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Environmental Analysis

Reader 1

Melinda Herrold-Menzies

Reader 2

Vanessa Tyson

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Terms of Use for work posted in Scholarship@Claremont.

Rights Information

© 2021 Toni T Anderson

Abstract

The equine industry, which is simultaneously regulated as agriculture, recreation, and a luxury good industry, is being forced to redefine their operations to comply with Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation regulations, or risk being shut down. Major hunter-jumper facilities in Southern California are faced with sudden closures and multi-million dollar lawsuits for violating policies that, for the facility managers, are neither clearly defined, or applicable to their operations. The legal precedents regarding NPDES permits and equine facilities are foggy, with some facilities being strictly regulated, while others, even those of a similar size, are ignored. The hunter/jumper industry is being caught in the crossfire between environmental regulation and the rise of industrial agriculture, at the expense of local economies and minority workers, causing devastation in an industry that isn’t a significant environmental threat. This thesis examines how the policy itself is not being equally enforced, and how the label of CAFO is being used as a political tool to gain leverage, rather than an accurate legal designation. In order to change this, the regulatory definition of a CAFO needs to be reworked to focus on manure management, rather than just facility size. The industry needs representation in the policymaking room to ensure that it is regulated in a way that allows it to operate within constraints that suit the operational practices of horse show facilities.

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