On Monday, March 5, another area county board of supervisors will bring a proposed 4,980-head hog confinement building to a public meeting. The Greene County Board of Supervisors will review the Greenbrier site application in that public hearing at 8:30 a.m. in the second-floor boardroom of the Greene County Courthouse in Jefferson. The site application was submitted by Nick Miller and Andy Carman, and according to a release from Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (CCI), it sits just over a half mile from the nearest resident, Dennis Hendricks. Hendricks says, “I have built for myself a beautiful haven to enjoy in my retirement. Now, I’m worried that this factory farm will ruin that.” He adds that the applicants and the corporation, Iowa Select Farms, are not representative of Iowa values and asserts this facility will “destroy” his quality of life through a degradation of air and water quality. Iowa Select Farms Communications Director, Jen Sorenson, says that this application is a bit different from the Calhoun County one that went to a public hearing then passed on a unanimous vote of the supervisors on Feb. 6. “Nick and Andy are contract producers and will own the barn, it’s their project and their investment.” Authorities from Iowa Select have spoken with Miller and Carman, and say they are excited and proud to stand behind the project. “We are glad to give Andy and Nick (through our production contract) the opportunity to grow their farming enterprise in Greene County,” Sorenson adds. The Greene County board will review the Master Matrix scoring system for the proposed site and then present a recommendation to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR), who makes the final determination of whether the site application will be approved or denied.
Trending
