Iowa City Press-Citizen, IA
06-25-06
'We don't have a choice'
Neighbors still concerned as hog facility nears completion
By Rachel Gallegos
Iowa City Press-Citizen
Now that Randy and Nancy Lackender's hog confinement facility is in the final
stages of construction, the neighbors said they have nothing left to do but wait to
see if it will affect air and water quality in the area.
The Lackender confinement facility is two buildings that will hold 1,000 hogs each
and be totally enclosed. The buildings will be about four miles south of the Iowa
City Municipal Airport, west of Highway 218. Manure produced by the hogs will
be injected into the ground each fall, rather than being put on top of the land.
"We've been through heck," Lackender said.
"What those people accused us of was pretty damaging to us," he said, adding
that he did not want to talk more about the situation and wants to move on with
his life.
Lackender and his neighbors have been at odds about the hog confinement
facility since March, two months after Lackender received permission from the
Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Lackender's neighbors say the fact that
the DNR approves such permits is one of their main causes of frustration
because no amount of appeals to local or county officials can reverse the
decision.
Dennis Runyan, who lives about a half-mile east of the two confinement
buildings, said nearby residents are getting appraisals of their homes as well as
air quality samples to determine what affect, if any, the hog facility will have on
the area.
"It hasn't smelled yet," Runyan said.
Members of the community have kept in communication throughout the building
process to see if they could do anything, such as plant trees, to help block any
odor that might come from the facility, he said.
"We don't really have a choice now," Runyan said. "If we're lucky, and there is
never a smell, great."
Based on a 2003 study by three members of Iowa State University's Center
for Agricultural and Rural Development, hog confinement facilities adversely
affect property values of homes that are downwind, especially if the houses are
within a half-mile.
The study of 1,145 rural homes in five north-central Iowa counties showed that
property values drop by up to 11 percent within a quarter-mile of a livestock
facility. Within a half-mile, values drop by up to 8 percent, and homes more than
a mile away lose about 3 percent of their value.
According to the Iowa Pork Industry, Iowa had 8,900 pig farms in 2005. Each
year, about 25 million hogs are raised in Iowa -- or about five hogs for every
person in the state, according to the organization's Web site.
Permits for such operations are issued by the DNR, and not city and county
officials, because regulations are designed to protect surface and groundwater
resources.
Two messages left for Wayne Farrand, construction permits supervisor for the
DNR's animal feeding operations department, were not returned.
Lackender said in March that he met the rules and regulations set by the DNR
and received a permit for the buildings in January.
"Apparently, if you're a farmer, your property rights are more valuable than
someone who isn't," said Jerry Full, who lives a little more than a mile from the
hog confinement site. "It's not a personal situation at all; it's a land use issue."
Full said residents did research and talked to local politicians to try and prevent
the hog confinement facilities from being built but were unsuccessful.
"There's nothing we can do to affect the outcome," Full said. "It's a pretty
frustrating situation."
Full said he expects to smell the new facility from time to time.
If the smell affects his lifestyle too much, Full said he will not only move from the
area but also from the state.
"If it runs us out, we're gone," he said.