Union County CAFO crowd tops 100
The Pal-Item’s Union County reporter, Pam Tharp, attended a plan commission meeting Monday and found about 100 citizens concerned of the new CAFO dairy going in on US 27:
A standing room-only crowd of about 100 packed into Union County Health Center’s waiting room for the meeting on new livestock ordinances. When all the chairs in the building were filled, the board moved its chairs back against the wall and the public moved its chairs forward to create more standing room at the rear of the room.
Link. The residents pushed for a 120 moratorium, but plan commission members were reluctant to act in light of Randolph County’s recent retreat from theirs. Locals commenting included an old friend:
Liberty resident Nick Fankhauser also asked for a moratorium.
“I appreciate our local farmers because they do follow the rules. I don’t want them to have to compete with outside companies that don’t,” Fankhauser said. “It’s interesting the new dairy announced it was coming after you announced this meeting.”
A Randolph County Resident showed up to give an experienced perspective:
Randolph County resident Allen Hutchison, who lives within 2,000 feet of the 1,650-cow Union-Go Dairy painted a different picture of life next door to a CAFO. The dairy had a manure spill in the creek, but IDEM didn’t immediately test the creek’s contamination level, he said.
Hutchison said he’s kept daily records of manure odors. Friends don’t stay long when the wind shifts, he said.
“The stench out of that place is bad. There’s more days I smell it than I don’t,” Hutchison said. “We’ve even smelled it at Wal-Mart seven miles away. We appealed IDEM’s (issuing a) permit. That’s still in court.”
