Guthrie County Votes 3-0 to Deny New Factory Farm Construction
Giant Factory Farm Proposal Near White Rock Conservatory in Raccoon River Watershed Draws Community Opposition
Guthrie County CCI members directly impacted by proposal documented flaws in the Master Matrix application
The Guthrie County Board of Supervisors voted 3-0 today to recommend that the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) deny a construction permit to a giant factory farm proposed by Brushy Creek Farms, LLC that would have been built near the impaired Brushy Creek, a tributary to the polluted Raccoon River, and two miles from the White Rock Conservatory.
Guthrie County-based members of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (Iowa CCI) identified flaws in the permit application and Master Matrix that formed the basis for the county’s denial recommendation. Iowa CCI is a statewide community action group that uses community organizing as a strategy to build grassroots power and win public policy that puts people first.
“I’m surrounded by 5,000 corporate hogs and this area is the only place left near me that I can ride my horses and still smell sweet air,” said Lori Nelson, a CCI member from Bayard, Iowa. “These factory farms have forced me out of my own home and my own property and I’m here today to demand you stop them from pushing me out of my own county, too”.
The Iowa DNR has 30 days from receipt of the county’s letter to make a determination on the case. If the DNR objects to the county’s recommendation, Guthrie county may appeal to the Environmental Protection Commission, a public oversight board stacked by Governor Branstad with factory farm insiders like Gene Ver Steeg and Brent Rastetter.
Earlier this week, Tama County recommended the DNR deny a factory farm owned by Iowa Regent President Bruce Rastetter. Local Tama County-based CCI members led the campaign. CCI members on the border of Story and Marshall county also convinced a local developer working with Cargill to cancel his plans to build a giant factory farm near State Center, Iowa.Factory farm pollution in the Raccoon River has drawn statewide attention in recent weeks after Des Moines Water Works announced it had turned on a $3.6 million nitrate removal system because nitrate levels in the Raccoon and Des Moines Rivers were too high to meet federal standards. The system costs $7,000 a day to run, a cost imposed on 500,000 customers in Central Iowa.Iowa has more than 628 polluted waterways and 800 documented manure spills, according to DNR records. The DNR has refused to sign a workplan with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to begin inspecting and permitting Iowa’s 8,000 factory farms.