Good day. I am a bit embarrassed that Dickinson County residents and board voiced their opposition to the hog confinement so effectively, yet in Woodbury County the news (Sioux City Journal) did not even mention opposing comments to a 4200 head dairy going in right next to the other 4500 head MPM dairy. Jane Hey, Adam MacClure, and Jim Redmond all commented against the proposed dairy or raised questions about the need for water monitoring. I am also embarrassed by asking about antibiotic use when it appears the state does regulate that in dairy herds pretty well. If I get a letter to the editor prepared, I will send that on if it gets published. Jim Here's a copy of both news stories: Dickinson County rejects proposed hog facility Supervisors send letter of opposition to DNR By Greg Drees, Journal correspondent SPIRIT LAKE, Iowa -- The message from about 100 citizens was clear: Stay out of Dickinson County. The board of supervisors agreed Tuesday, telling a representative from New Fashion Pork (NFP) of Jackson, Minn., it unanimously disapproves of a proposed 4,000-head hog confinement facility west of Spirit Lake. Voting 4-0, with supervisor Pam Jordan absent, the board instructed Assistant County Attorney Lonnie Saunders to draft a letter to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources opposing the construction permit and asking for a soil boring performance of the site. Jay Moore, environmental manager for NFP, told the board the company is proposing a 4,000-head finish operation in Diamond Lake Township, about four miles west of the junction of Highways 9 and 71. Moore said site plans have passed the DNR's Master Matrix, which awards point totals based on inspection and data criteria. Manure from the operation -- about 1 million gallons annually -- would be injected onto 320 acres of farmland near the Little Sioux River, Moore said. Donna Buell, a Spirit Lake attorney and a member of the state's Environmental Resources Commission, told Moore that the proposed project would be detrimental to the area. "Dickinson County supports a $150 million-a-year tourism industry," Buell said. "How can you plop a hog lot on top of us? This area is different and we will fight you until we win. You should cut your losses and leave." Bill Murphy, a land owner in the area, said the proposed CAFO (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation) would destroy what he and other property owners have been striving to achieve with prairie restorations and conservation efforts. "This (project) is like participating in environmental terrorism," Murphy said. "We must fight this tooth and nail until it is turned down." Moore said NFP -- which has operations in Iowa, South Dakota, Wyoming, Minnesota, Illinois and Indiana -- has followed DNR rules and is trying to build a responsible operation. "We will be a good neighbor," Moore said. Dave Kohlhaase, Dickinson County zoning administrator, said the supervisors' action does not mean a denial of the permit for NFP. Kohlhaase said the DNR -- once it receives the board's letter of opposition -- would re-evaluate the application and rescore it within the parameters of the Master Matrix. If the application again meets the DNR criteria, the agency will issue to the supervisors a notice of intent to grant the application. The supervisors may then ask for a hearing on the issue. In 2002, Dutch Creek Farms of Fairmont, Minn., halted a proposed 4,000-head hog confinement project southwest of Milford after a nonprofit group -- Save Dickinson County's Environment -- generated a groundswell of opposition to the proposal. Proposed dairy gets support from area residents Town hall meeting answers questions about waste management plan By Alicia Ebaugh Journal staff writer SLOAN-A town hall meeting Tuesday night to discuss a proposed 4,180-head dairy farm northeast of Sloan answered numerous questions people had on how the dairy will be constructed and operated. More than 60 area residents came to voice mostly support for developers Randy and Ronnie Hunt, who want to build the $15 million dairy, to be called Owego Dairy, on land they own near 280th Street and Eastland Avenue, about two miles away from MPM Farms, another dairy. Randy Hunt said the brothers hosted the meeting with the Woodbury County Planning and Zoning Commission in order to make sure everyone is informed about the project. "We're on our fourth generation of farmers in this area," he said. "We have been good stewards to the land in the past, and we'll continue to do that." At the hourlong meeting, the blueprints for the solid- and liquid-manure lagoons that will hold waste products, as well as designs for the barn, were on display. The 11-member planning board, which includes the dairy's chosen manager -- former Plymouth Dairy general manager Dwight Hasselquist -- and people from all aspects of the planning and construction process spent much of the metting responding to the barrage of questions. Particularly of interest to the crowd was the Hunts' manure management plan for Owego Dairy and what impact it would have on the environment. Jason Berg of Environmental Sciences Inc. of Lincoln, Neb., who helped design the 40-acre lagoon system the Hunts hope to use in their operations, said there will be four settling lagoons for solid waste and one for liquid waste with a capacity of 420 days worth of manure -- a total of more than 78 million gallons. The lagoons will be built above ground with 10-foot tall compacted-clay barriers more than 20 times less permeable than required by state law, said Berg's partner, Kendall Bonenberger, and will have a drainage system all the way around it. About once a year the Hunts will recycle the manure by applying it to their surrounding farm fields, treating it with groundwater to reduce the stench, Berg said. Each cow will have about 100 square feet of space in the proposed dairy barn, which will be designed with one wall of "cool cells," similar to what designer John Herbst of Sioux Dairy Equipment in Rock Valley, Iowa, called "swamp coolers" in the Southeast. They will keep the cows 10 to 15 degrees cooler when the weather gets warm, Herbst said. Also addressed was their planned use of antibiotics, which Hasselquist said will be used sparingly. "We have every incentive to care for our cows to make sure they don't get sick in the first place," he said, noting that milk with antibiotics in it cannot be sold. Planning and Zoning administrator John Pylelo said the Hunts have already received the construction permits they need to move ahead with the dairy and are now waiting for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources' OK on a building permit. The DNR has until Aug. 11 to make its decision. "We will start building immediately after we get (the permit)," Randy Hunt said. Jim Redmond Professor of English Briar Cliff University 712-279-5544 [log in to unmask] -----Original Message----- From: Iowa Chapter ExCom [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Neila Seaman Sent: Wednesday, June 28, 2006 8:32 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Dickinson board lines up against confinement plan - DM Register - 6-28-06 Published June 28, 2006 Dickinson board lines up against confinement plan By PERRY BEEMAN REGISTER STAFF WRITER The Dickinson County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously voted to oppose a 4,000-hog confinement west of the Iowa Great Lakes. A crowd of nearly 100 people, most of them opposed to the development, attended the supervisors' meeting at which the board sided with opponents. The state has the final say on whether New Fashion Pork of Jackson, Minn., which has other operations in Iowa, gets the permit. The supervisors can request a state hearing if the permit is issued. The development has passed a state checklist used to review confinement proposals and encourage techniques that protect the environment. Typically, that means a permit will be approved. Neighbors of the development near Diamond Lake and north of Iowa Highway 9 - about four miles west of West Okoboji Lake - fear the facility will cause odor problems. They also noted that manure runoff would foul a branch of the Little Sioux River that already is on the state's list of seriously polluted waterways. The site is between the towns of Lake Park and Spirit Lake, northeast of the corner of Iowa 9 and 160th Avenue. Chris Murphy, who lives less than a mile south of the proposed confinement site, said neighbors and others living along West Okoboji Lake protested what they see as a threat to the Little Sioux River and an environmental setback in an area near state-owned Cayler Prairie and hundreds of acres of newly restored wetlands and prairies. They also are worried about the odor. West Okoboji Lake is not in the area where runoff from the manure applications would go, but some critics worry that the underground springs that feed the lake could be affected. The odors could spread to the lake area but would be expected to be heavily diluted by the time they traveled that far, based on various studies. The Diamond Lake and Kettleson Hogsback wildlife areas are east of the site. Big Spirit Lake is directly east and a few miles away. "Obviously, the quality of life would be affected," said Murphy, who has lived in the area six years. "People canoe and kayak the Little Sioux here, and it is a very environmentally sensitive area." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To get off the IOWA-EXCOM list, send any message to: [log in to unmask] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To get off the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to: [log in to unmask]