A physician assistant with background as a Muncy pharmacist claims bird flu and increased respiratory ailments are possible if Sunny Side Up Farms’ large-scale poultry operation for egg laying production proposed in Muncy Creek Township would ever be approved.

“These risks are not speculative,” said Theresa Tarquinio, a resident of Muncy who was permitted to testify before township supervisors – Eric Newcomer, chair, and Harley Fry II – at a conditional use hearing for the Lancaster County-based applicant. These hearings have been going on for more than a year now, and have been for the most part packed with residents and others interested including the applicants.

AgVentures would be the daily manager of the farm, according to Cody Snyder, spokesman for that company. He previously said the proposal is for bringing in five barns, each barn 88 feet wide by 616 feet long and encompasses about 1.25 acres of land. Each barn will house about 70,000 free-range chickens, or 350,000 chickens. The site also would include a solar panel farm in 11 sections – on the agricultural conservation and residential-zoned land bordered by Clarkstown, Fogelman and Muncy Exchange roads, according to Bollinger Solar officials.

It is a joint venture by the Wagner-Bollinger families of Lancaster.

Tarquinio claims there are risks posed by this project that “are consistent with established environmental health principles and documented impacts of similar operations.”

“The site presents predictable risks in air quality, water safety and infectious disease control that directly affects public health and safety,” she said.

Bird flu concerns

“Pennsylvania is one of the worst states to have bird flu with half of the cases documented in Lancaster County, where the business is based,” Tarquinio said.

Avian flu is a threat to agriculture and health and safety as highlighted by Gov. Josh Shapiro, who, in February, said Pennsylvania was the “epicenter of the nationwide outbreak.”

Tarquinio also brought up the potential risk of the operation of a farm like this of increasing asthma and respiratory ailments from dust and particulates, pieces of feathers, skin, and the release of hydrogen sulfide gas and other volatile organic compounds – aggravating and worsening immuno-suppressed individuals’ health.

Besides the potential hazards from the volatile organic compounds that can be produced by these operations, Tarquino discussed the spread of avian flu, particularly as it related to wild birds carrying or spreading the pathogens via their migratory pathways.

The township is in that pathway, according to Tarquinio’s assessment of National Audubon Society material.

In fact, unprecedented and crisis levels of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) were suspected to be spread by wild birds (specifically snow geese) migrating through the Atlantic Flyway. As a measure to control this, the state deployed additional resources, including United States Department of Agriculture employees and National Guard members, to assist with an estimated 7.7 million affected birds in Pennsylvania, according to the USDA.

Although avian flu has been detected in animals in Pennsylvania (including Allegheny and Lehigh counties), no human cases have been reported in the state, she acknowledged.

However, Tarquinio also expressed concern about mutation and replication of communicable disease in animals such as in feral and domestic cats, foxes, raccoons and skunks.

Tarquinio added how it is true that poultry farms feed people, producing 134 million tons of food, but said that the waste material when not handled properly poses a serious threat to environmental and human health – listing the compounds in the waste.

She expressed her concern for any nursing home or hospital patients or anyone living near such a poultry farm.

In fact, she noted that 9 % of the U.S. population has some form of immunosuppression, or co-existing conditions, according to the U.S. Department of Health.

She touched in her testimony on the impact of fertilizer, and pesticides used at these farms.

“My husband worked in a veterinary pharmacy,” she told the Sun-Gazette. “A lot of what keeps chickens healthy is in their feed,” she said. “There are pesticides used in barns to keep flies down and antibiotics and other things in feed to promote chickens growth, but we do not know what they will use because they have not provided us that information.”

Snyder has testified that it would not be AgVentures that would be in charge of keeping chickens healthy, but they would have an “integrator,” according to his prior testimony.

That would be a company that owns the chickens and eggs, Tarquinio said.

“I have a problem with being told I can’t get information from a legitimate source, and the applicant can’t give us information from the integrator,” she said.

“Cody (Snyder) said the integrator also would be in charge of biosecurity, which deals with avian flu, and animal best practices such as nutrient management and fly control, but has never revealed to the public who that would be or what their methods are,” she said.

The applicant has testified the project will be designed and operate under all applicable state and federal environmental regulations including a nutrient management plan and mitigation of flies and dust would be a priority.

Tarquinio said she isn’t convinced.

In her testimony she requested the supervisors upon their review of this conditional use ensure enforcement safeguards that include, but are not limited to, reviewing the planning phase of the project’s comprehensive nutrient management plan, groundwater protection measures, and air quality impact analysis.

“I respectfully submit to the township that you cannot make the required findings for approval of (conditional use) without fully addressing these risks,” Tarquinio said.

“Not a promise to get these done but proof and submission,” she said.