The grassroots action group, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (ICCI), is chastising the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) for overturning a county’s decision to deny a factory farm. They say in August, Crown Farm Partners, an Iowa Select-affiliated farm, had submitted an insufficient application to the Pocahontas County Board of Supervisors to expand a facility near Rolfe from 4,450 head of hogs to 7,490. The supervisors heard community input and reviewed the application, which they say clearly failed to meet state guidelines after point deductions for a 7,000 gallon manure spill into a tributary of the Des Moines River. Despite these objections, the ICCI is claiming the DNR overturned their decision last week, saying they did not receive the county’s denial letter in time. ICCI community organizer, Erica Blair says, “This shows that the Iowa DNR is more concerned about putting up hog factories than actually protecting Iowa’s water. The DNR should honor the county’s wishes and let them maintain what little control they still have,” she added. The spill that brought down the Crown Farm Partners Master Matrix score is the second to originate from an Iowa Select-contracted site in one month. On Nov. 11, a honey wagon spreading manure on a farm field in Carroll County, near Breda, released an undetermined amount of manure. The spill flowed through tile lines into an unnamed tributary of the Boyer River. The original story on this spill can be found by following the link below.
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