The Siting of Livestock Facilities and Environmental Regulations

The significant variation in the stringency of environmental regulations across Ontario municipalities in the late 1990s created the possibility of pollution havens where expanding livestock operations would locate in those municipalities with the lowest regulatory compliance costs. Using actual building permit data rather than aggregate regional production numbers, the study examined the factors affecting spatial changes. Instead of locating to reduce environmental compliance costs as suggested by the pollution haven hypothesis, barns are being built largely where the livestock sector is concentrated suggesting the existence of agglomeration economies. The result suggests that the normalization of standards across the province through the new Nutrient Management Act will not significantly influence the location decisions of expanding or new livestock facilities which are largely determined by economic factors associated with livestock infrastructure support.