On the scenic route to Galena

13,000 Cows and 50 “Football Fields” of Manure Ponds

As a Galena Territory property owner, chances are you’re one of the 1.5 million people who drive each year down Stagecoach Trail, the scenic route to Galena.  Maybe the view of rolling hills still takes your breath away.  Well, if a proposed mega dairy is built 10 miles west of Lena and 2 miles east of Warren, you may wish you didn’t have to breathe during that scenic stretch. 

If  the facility is built, you may well be able to follow your nose to a location less than one mile from the road where you’ll find 13,000 cows in a Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) and an estimated 50 “football fields” of above-ground manure ponds.  If you’re making your trip in the fall, in addition to the fall colors, you may see/smell manure from these ponds on somewhere between 4,000 and 10,000 acres of farmland in your vista. 

California-based dairy man A. J. Bos, wants to expand his 50,000-cow enterprise, but not on the west coast, where water is in short supply and the cost of shipping feed is heading skyward.  Instead, he wants to locate his newest mega dairy in western Jo Daviess County, just off of Stagecoach Trail, about a mile west of the town of Nora (ten miles west of Warren).

At 13,000 cows on two neighboring sites, the Bos operation would be three times the size of any other dairy in the state, with the potential to double or triple in coming years.  The Illinois Department of Agriculture (IDOA) has the sole authority under Illinois law to “site” such a facility.  The law does not require approval from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.  Likewise, local residents don’t have a vote.  But the law requires IDOA to seek a “non-binding recommendation” from the County Board.

On February 11, the Jo Daviess County Board voted “No” on the Bos application. 

Here are some of the reasons that Board members and others oppose citing the mega dairy in Jo Daviess County.

• The potential for well water contamination.
  • According to Samuel V. Panno, Senior Geochemist at the Illinois State Geological Survey, “the site of the proposed dairy facility is underlain by a karst aquifer and as such, is highly susceptible to groundwater contamination.”  And “surface-borne pollutants entering a karst aquifer can contaminate wells miles away in a matter of hours.”  Karst is land with shallow topsoil over fractured bedrock, like limestone.  It is characterized by underground streams (called aquifers), and often by sinkholes and underground caves.
• The potential for surface water contamination.
  • A stream on the proposed mega dairy site empties into the Apple River, prized by locals and tourists for clean water and trout fishing.  It reportedly took a decade for the Apple River to recover from a fertilizer spill in the 1980’s. 
• The possibility of illness from air-borne contaminants.
  • Ammonia and hydrogen sulfide are gasses associated with storing manure, and studies have shown health risks for workers and nearby residents who breathe them.  Technologies exist to mitigate these risks, but the Bos application indicates that he plans to use few if any of them.
• The drain on local aquifers.
  • The Bos operation proposes to use about one million gallons of water per day from the aquifer which also supplies the towns of Nora, Warren and Lena.  These towns use a combined half million gallons per day.  Water in aquifers is replenished by rain, but is finite, and will at some point be used up.
• Costs versus benefits to taxpayers.
  • The Bos application indicates that 80 jobs will initially be created at the two sites together.  And the mega dairy could pay as much as $400,000 in property taxes, much of that going to the schools.  Most of the jobs will be low-paying, however, and will not offer benefits.  So the cost of educating the children of new families and providing them with social services could far outstrip any benefits from new taxes.
• Possible reductions in nearby property values.
  • A real estate industry study has shown that property values near a CAFO can be negatively impacted.
• Possible negative impact on tourism.
  • Tourism in Jo Daviess County is roughly a $200,000,000 industry, summing receipts and salaries.  Of concern is the proposed location of the mega dairy along the County’s scenic highway and in close proximity to Apple River Canyon State Park and Le-Aqua-Na State Park, which together draw more than one half million people annually.  
• Concerns about new road construction and maintenance.

Opponents:  “He didn’t answer our questions.”

Locals near the proposed mega dairy first met with A.J. Bos in November, at the Nora Bar, the only business left in town.  “He didn’t answer our questions,” said Jennifer Heidenreich, a mother of two who works full-time from her home.  She, her husband, Jim, and several others mobilized quickly to oppose the operation.  They called themselves H.O.M.E.S, or “Helping Others Maintain Environmental Standards.”

“We’re not anti farm.”

The Illinois Farm Bureau is supporting the mega farm, citing economic benefits to farmers and businesses that supply them.  Dairy farmer Ron Lawfer told the County Board that the “spotted cow is becoming an endangered species” in Jo Daviess County as the numbers of dairy cows have plummeted in recent years. 

Heidenreich stressed that the sentiment of the group is not anti-farming.  “This thing has been portrayed as the town folks versus the farmers, and that’s just not so,” she says.  Jim Francis, another of the co-founders says that “all of us have ties to farming, and we all have to eat.”  He says that he doesn’t believe, however, that many economic benefits will land in the County.  “Factory farms hurt the small farmer,” he says.

And What About All That Manure?

According to answers Bos supplied to questions from the County Board’s Development and Planning Committee, the Bos operation will generate more than ninety million gallons of raw waste annually at each site.  Bos plans to sell or give his manure to several nearby farmers, pumping it out of the above-ground storage ponds.  In Heidenreich’s view, even if the fertilizer is free, it’s no deal.  “What if you over saturate or you can’t apply when it’s needed?  And what if there’s a spill?  Will Mr. Bos be responsible, or the farmer?  Free fertilizer sounds good, but is that cost saving worth it in the long run?” she says

On January 10, the H.O.M.E.S group took their concerns to a public hearing, along with many others.  More than 600 people packed the Warren High School gym despite a serious snow storm.  One school official said she’d never seen so many people there for a non-sporting event.  Warren Goetsch, the man whose team will be deciding whether or not the mega dairy comes to our county, said that the reaction was a “little more widespread negative than usual.”

“The County Board’s reasoning counts, not the vote.”

Goetsch is the Bureau Chief of Environmental Programs at the Illinois Department of Agriculture.  He says he’s not interested in the 11-5 (purely advisory) vote of the County Board.  He’s interested in the reasoning behind it.  “We use it when we go back to the applicant.”  He says that the “County made a recommendation based on the information it had at the time.  We will have a lot more information, including final construction plans,” he says

Bos deadline:  One year to complete the approval process

Goetsch says that even a finding of karst, if confirmed by additional testing at the site, does not kill the project.  Again, karst refers to shallow topsoil over fractured bedrock with underground streams.  It would, however, mean construction plans will have to specify more costly rigid linings of all those manure ponds, instead of the clay linings currently proposed. 

Under the 1996 Livestock Management Facilities Act, which Goetsch frequently references, Bos will have one year from the date of his November application to go through the approval process and begin construction.  Otherwise, “the application goes away” and the clock starts over.  This is important since a new clock means a new calculation of the so-called setbacks or distances from homes and businesses.  New homes and businesses too close to the site could preclude its use.

“The law does not provide for denial” of an application, however, according to Goetsch.  Instead, either an application is approved or the applicant must be told, in this case by March 12, why his application failed to meet the eight criteria set out in the Livestock Act. 

Thus, as you read this, one of two things will have happened.  Goetsch may have sent the Bos application back for more information and more complete plans, something he told me he was likely to do.  Alternatively, he may have approved the application as is.  In that case, H.O.M.E.S, which has retained an attorney, may file a nuisance lawsuit.  Consult www.thegalenaterritory.com or www.stopthemegadairy.org for updates.

Springfield

Those opposing the mega dairy have garnered letters of support from Illinois Lt. Governor Pat Quinn, who is a water quality activist, and House Speaker Michael Madigan.  The office of Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has written the Department of Agriculture requesting it to delay a decision on the facility until further geological studies of the site can be completed.

Illinois State Representative Jim Sacia is an active supporter of the mega dairy.  Retiring Illinois State Senator Todd Sieben, former co-owner of a seed corn company, also supports the operation.  Both candidates vying to succeed Sieben, Republican Tim Bivins and Democrat Marty Mulcahey, have been quoted as giving the project their blessing if it can be proved not to harm the environment. 

Opponents of the mega dairy worry that the outpouring of support they believe swayed many on the County Board will end now with an assumption that the battle has been won.  By late February, 650 people had signed petitions opposing the Bos operation.  Matthew Alschuler, of H.O.M.E.S, wishes more of them would call their elected officials in Springfield.  “Call the Governor, 217-782-0224,” he says.  “It’s not over.”

For more information on their position, you can go to the H.O.M.E.S website, www.stopthemegadairy.com.   You can also address questions and comments to the Jo Daviess County Farm Bureau, at 815-858-2235 and to Warren Goetsch at the Illinois Department of Agriculture, 217-785-2427.