Adair County Denies Factory Farm Expansion

Adair County Denies Factory Farm Expansion Request

Local-area CCI members directly impacted demand Iowa DNR uphold county’s decision

On Tuesday, Adair County Supervisors voted 3-2 to deny a factory farm expansion proposal near Orient.  Over a dozen members of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (Iowa CCI) who live near the proposed factory farm attended the hearing Tuesday but weren’t allowed public comment during the meeting.  Iowa CCI members submitted written comment challenging Master Matrix points submitted by Circle G Pork.

“We’re happy that the Adair County Supervisors decided to deny the factory farm application but we’re disappointed that the county wouldn't let us publically testify about something that will negatively impact our water, air and quality of life,” said Ann Merritt, a CCI member who’s rural tourism business is located under a mile from the proposed factory farm.  “We’re taxpayers and should be able to speak in front of the board.  Democracy works when people are involved.”

"We call on the Iowa Department of Natural Resources to uphold the county's decision and deny the construction permit for this factory farm."

Iowa CCI members have requested a meeting with DNR environmental chief Bill Ehm in Adair county on April 21.Neighbors of the proposed factory farm say that the site is located at the top of the watershed and any runoff from the factory farm or fields will threaten everyone downstream.

The Supervisors recommended the Iowa DNR deny the application based on two discrepancies on the Master Matrix application first identified by local-area Iowa CCI members.  The application now goes to the DNR where they must rule on the county's decision within 30 days.

There are two other factory farm expansions in Adair and Union County that CCI members and other local residents in the area will be fighting to stop in the next couple weeks.  The public hearings are in Union County on April 14 at 10 am at the Union County Courthouse and in Adair County on April 23 at 9 am at the Adair County Courthouse.  If approved, these three factory farms would produce close to 5 million gallons of toxic liquid manure a year and add 7,200 corporate owned factory farm hogs to the Adair and Union Counties.

There have been at least 728 documented manure spills since 1996 and Iowa currently has at least 630 polluted waterways, according to DNR records.  Some researchers have found that manure from factory farm lagoons is leaking at more than twice the rate allowed by law, and it’s anyone’s guess how many times rainwater, floods, or melting snow have run freshly spread liquid manure off of farmland and into rivers, lakes, and streams.

Des Moines Water Works has also reported some ammonia problems already this Spring that the water utility says “often” comes from “livestock operations” and “manure-fertilized fields”.  Last year, Des Moines Water Works spent nearly $1 million removing nitrates from drinking water drawn from the Des Moines and Raccoon Rivers.

Factory farm expansion is also up, with nearly one thousand of the state’s 8,500 factory farms being built since January 1, 2012.   A conservative estimate finds that Iowa’s 21 million hogs produce between five and ten billion gallons of toxic manure every year.

Iowa CCI is a statewide, grassroots people’s action group that uses community organizing to win public policy that puts communities before corporations and people before profits, politics, and polluters.