The neighbors in this area write letters to the editors. They have also
contacted the club through Jo Hudson.


Feedstuffs Magazine
Hog Industry Insider
May 15, 2000
By STEVE MARBERY
Feedstuffs Correspondent

Citizens to sue Iowa DNR

Public support for uniform application of federal water quality
standards to
intensive swine operations is gaining momentum in southern Iowa, where
citizens
are aiming a lawsuit at the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR)
for
approving a 3,500-sow operation planned by Swine Graphics of Webster
City, Iowa.
Proposed a year ago near the historic Mormon Trail in Clarke County,
southeast
of Osceola, the facility is sited on poorly drained, erodible soil,
allege
neighboring landowners who have retained a Des Moines attorney to
prepare
litigation.

Swine Graphics and DNR officials have been notified of the proposed
lawsuit.
Iowa law requires a 60-day notification before filing citizen
complaints.
Plaintiffs will argue that the site violates U.S. Clean Water Act
regulations,
should be supervised by the Environmental Protection Agency and enforced
by DNR.
Prospective plaintiffs contend the state is not enforcing federal
pollution
laws. Swine Graphics has three 3,500-sow units in Clarke County and
12,000
statewide. Craig Loffredo, company spokesman, said DNR is still
reviewing
facility applications. Adjustments to the proposed waste management plan
have
been made in the past few months, he said. Facility construction has not
begun,
but the company is about three-quarters done building a water reservoir
that
will be used to pre-charge lagoons and supplement wells, he said.

An attorney representing plaintiffs in the proposed Clarke County
litigation is
involved in an anticipatory nuisance case filed last year by
northeastern Iowa
citizens and the Sierra Club against a contract facility. Plaintiffs
alleged hog
waste threatened a trout stream. The facility was built below the DNR
permit
threshold.

Copyright 2000, The Miller Publishing Company, a company of Rural Press
Ltd.

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