NorthIowaToday.com

Founded in 2010

News & Entertainment for Mason City, Clear Lake & the Entire North Iowa Region

Floyd county supervisors recommend denial of CAFO expansion due to water quality concerns

Water quality
Water quality

CHARLES CITY – An existing confined animal feeding operation (CAFO) in Floyd county submitted a construction permit for expansion, but the board of supervisors recommended denial of the permit due to water quality concerns.

The action was taken at the Floyd County Board of Supervisors meeting on April 12, 2016. Knapp Finishers, LLC, had submitted a confinement construction permit application for the Meyer Site ID #68371 (in section 22 of Cedar East Township, known as the Meyer Site).

Meeting minutes show Supervisor Mark Kuhn raised concerns about the expansion of the CAFO due to water quality concerns. He said that Knapp Finishers, LLC, should not be awarded 445 points in the Master Matrix state scoring system, pointing out specific answers to questions in a questionnaire answered by Knapp. The master matrix is a scoring system that can be used to evaluate the siting of permitted confinement feeding operations. Producers in counties that have adopted the matrix must meet higher standards than other permitted facilities. Before they can be approved for construction, they must earn points on the master matrix for choosing sites and using practices that reduce adverse impacts on the environment and the community. Producers must have 50% (440 points minimum) of the total score and at least 25% of the available points in each of the three subcategories of air, water and community impacts to pass the master matrix.

Knapp apparently scored 445 points in the matrix scoring, surpassing the 440 points required for permit approval.

Wikipedia photo of Mark Kuhn
Wikipedia photo of Mark Kuhn

Supervisor Mark Kuhn explained the reason the Master Matrix process is required is because the proposed confinement increases the animal capacity threshold when combined with the confinement built in 2015. He commented on concerns about the 1.276 million gallons of manure at the site only 100 feet from an existing well and 220 feet from a proposed well.

A map introduced at the meeting shows 120 feet for the truck turn around area between the building and the road for the existing building and another 120 feet for the truck turn around area between the facility and the road for the proposed building. The map also indicates a proposed driveway connecting the two facilities on the property with the driveway going over the well supplying water to the facility. In Kuhn’s opinion there is no mention of the well in the commentary for this question and no mention of how the well is going to be protected in the driveway and based on that, the application is not in compliance with the design of the truck turnaround area.

Brian Ritland, Pinnacle representative for Knapp, mentioned that the area of the well could be marked, barricaded, or have rocks put around it but there are no requirements and there is no criteria in the application to protect the well because it is not required in the application.

All supervisors made comments about loopholes in scoring the questions of the master matrix for new and expanded facilities. The Board reviewed a DNR map showing confinements across the county, many concentrated in the Cedar Township area and many intentionally built under the minimum requirements which causes concern for water quality. Kuhn addressed a question from a member of the public regarding the Cedar Valley aquifer and drinking water well levels.

Supervisors Doug Kamm and Roy Schwickerath also commented about denying the application to send a message (to the Iowa DNR) that Floyd County is frustrated with the master matrix scoring process. The DNR has the final say on the permitting process.

Kuhn and Kamm moved to deny the Knapp Finishers, LLC application for the reason that the scoring does not meet the 440 points needed because they do not score 20 points for Master Matrix question #19 which leaves them with 425 points.

The motion carried 3-0.

At the April 26 board supervisors meeting, the board reviewed a revised construction permit application from Knapp Finishers, LLC for the project, and looked to set another public hearing on the matter.

0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

3 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Even more news:

Copyright 2024 – Internet Marketing Pros. of Iowa, Inc.
3
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x