Northern Iowa Counties Split On Hog Confinements
A few new hog confinements were a topic of discussion in two county board meetings this week as residents spoke up in opposition.
Over in Hancock County, Summit Pork has two buildings planned which will both house just under 5,000 head of hogs. Each of these facilities would be six-tenths of a mile from the water in Torkelson Pits Wildlife Area.
During a public meeting earlier this week, the Hancock County Supervisors held a public hearing about the hog confinement before deciding whether or not to approve the permit says an article in Radio Iowa. However, the only comment on the matter was an objection that came from Bob Kern of Garner in writing. In his objection, Gardner says Summit has “deceived and divided neighbors” against one another.
The board votes to approve the confinements unanimously.
Over in Worth County, residents were more vocal during their public hearing.
The Worth County Board of Supervisors held a public hearing that looked into the application that Summit submitted for a 4,990 head hog confinement in the county.
According to an article in SwineWeb, 19 speakers spoke up in opposition to the confinement.
The application failed on a 1-1 vote due to a supervisor’s absence, but the application is still going to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources to be reviewed.
“They can have three ‘nays’ and the application can still go to the DNR,” Worth County resident Russ Johnson said in the SwineWeb article. “County control is gone. Even state control is gone. They (the state) would have to make legislation to actually stop them (industrial ag companies.)”
He adds that the neighboring properties barely had notification of the confinement.
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