NEWS

Hog farm proposal withdrawn, but could still be built

Josh O'Leary
joleary@press-citizen.com

A West Branch farmer seeking to expand his swine operation withdrew his application Thursday, though county leaders say he could sidestep the county's approval process and build a new hog confinement facility by moving it farther from an existing building.

Dozens of neighbors, environmental activists and animal rights proponents, who denounced the operation as a factory farm, applauded the reversal when Johnson County Board of Supervisors Chairman Terrence Neuzil announced that he had received a letter withdrawing the application for a permit minutes before a Thursday meeting was scheduled to begin.

Ray Slach had applied to build a second confinement building on his farm at 4315 Oasis Road S.E. along the Johnson and Cedar county line that would have housed 2,480 hogs. The new facility — a concentrated animal feeding operation, or CAFO — would have been about 1,600 feet away from an existing building, which contains 2,400 hogs.

Because the two buildings would have been less than 2,500 feet apart and together would house more than 2,500 head of swine, the county supervisors were set to proceed with a scoring process before making a recommendation to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, which would have the final say in the CAFO's approval.

After Slach withdrew the application, supervisors said Slach could build the confinement 2,500 feet or more away from the existing structure and not have to acquire a permit. Officials say, however, that Slach has not indicated whether he intends to do so.

Several supervisors voiced their frustration over the limited power the county has when it comes to the approval of such large-scale operations.

"So this is how state law works," Supervisor Janelle Rettig said. "He withdrew this application and can literally move it 900 feet away (from the proposed site) and do the same thing with a lot less requirements. And therein lies what's wrong with state law. And therein law lies why local government basically has very little rights here."

Supervisor Pat Harney said the possibility of now having two separate facilities in the same area without any DNR oversight is troubling.

"Now to get that distance, he would move it from some undesirable land to some good farm ground, if he chooses to move forward," Harney said. "So we're actually 'losing-losing' in a lot of ways on this, even though we did not necessarily want the confinement."

Slach did not address the board at the meeting, instead submitted his withdrawal via email. A message seeking comment was not returned by Slach on Thursday.

Though the withdrawal of the permit made discussion of the scoring matrix moot, the board held the scheduled public hearing anyway, and a long line of residents spoke in opposition to the operation.

Paul Durrenberger, a rural West Branch resident and retired University of Iowa anthropology professor who co-wrote a book about agricultural industrialization, warned of the dangers of such confinement operations.

"Our research showed decisively that industrial swine operations never bring advantages to the areas where they are located," Durrenberger said. "But they bring many environmental negatives, including increasing water and air pollution."

Suzan Erem, a farmer in rural West Branch, said large confinement operations also impact the economies of local communities and small family farmers. Erem, a board member for the Iowa Farmers Union and a member of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, said Iowa has lost 91 percent of its independent hog farmers in the last 25 years.

"Once there were thousands of Iowa farmers growing hogs on their farms and property and spending their money in our small towns," Erem said. "Now there is one facility housing thousands of hogs, benefiting one local family and a bunch of distant, anonymous stockholders who know nothing about our community.

"Where once those thousands of Iowa farmers and their families shopped at local fleet and farm stores, there's now one faraway feed corporation that the so-called hog farmer sources all of his supplies from, forcing even farm stores like Theisen's to get big or get out."

Derek Perez, an Iowa City restaurant owner who lives near the site of the proposed CAFO, was among the neighbors who voiced concern. Perez said the site of discarded hog carcasses in trash receptacles or on the side of the road is common at the farm.

"It's really third-worldish when you drive by that," Perez said. "The respect for the animals is disturbing."

Neuzil said unlike Johnson County, some Iowa counties do not use the scoring matrix when considering large confinement operations, giving them even less say in the process. Still, with the Iowa DNR as the ultimate authority for CAFOs, Neuzil said more oversight should be granted to local governments.

"You've just got to wonder at some point, do we not have a conversation with our legislators and governor and remind them about the importance of local government?" Neuzil said.

Reach Josh O'Leary at 887-5415 or joleary@press-citizen.com.