The wind is high in Yellowhouse Canyon, a working class neighborhood on Lubbock’s southeastern outskirts, as Kathy Stewart collects her chihuahua from the front yard of her home. It’s usually windy in Lubbock, but on this September morning the breeze carries the unmistakable stench of feces. “Cow crap,” Stewart says as she retreats inside with her dog. The odor is prevalent most days. To make matters worse, the wind frequently delivers a blast of fecal dust: dried manure that’s been stomped by feedlot cattle and carried to whomever is unfortunate enough to live nearby.
Stewart, who is president of the neighborhood group in this historically black neighborhood, says living with the odor and dust is a constant source of consternation. When it’s at its worst, she and neighbors hack and cough and have trouble breathing.
The culprit, she believes, is Lubbock Feeders, a concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) less than a mile south of her home. The facility is permitted to hold 50,000 head of beef cattle and can produce up to 2.9 million pounds of manure in a single day. Stewart has registered two complaints with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) about the dust and odor, but no action has been taken.
