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Land Conservation Committee approves Roth Hog CAFO permit
Crawford County
Roth Feeder Pig II aerial view of site

CRAWFORD COUNTY - The Crawford County Land Conservation Committee approved the Livestock Facility Siting Permit for the Roth Feeder Pigs II hog CAFO at their meeting on Tuesday, August 9.

The motion to approve was made by Crawford County Board of Supervisors Chairperson Tom Cornford, exercising his right to sit on the committee, and seconded by committee member Kim Moret. On a roll call vote, Kim Moret, Mary Kuhn, Dave Olson and Tom Cornford voted for the motion, and Gary Koch voted against the motion.

The motion brought by Cornford was to approve the Roth Feeder Pigs II Livestock Facility Siting Permit contingent upon Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) approval of the CAFO’s updated nutrient management plan.

In discussion prior to the vote, Crawford County Conservationist Dave Troester outlined the options the committee had under the State of Wisconsin Livestock Facility Siting Law. He said the options were to approve the complete permit application, to deny the application, or to extend the decision-making deadline because of good cause to believe the application is not complete.

“Regarding the issue of the need for the nutrient management plan to be updated, I believe that would constitute grounds for the committee to act to extend the decision-making timeline,” Troester told the committee.

Troester told the committee that the Land Conservation Department had received a large volume of input prior to the public hearing, at the public hearing, and since then up to the August 4 deadline and beyond (49 before the public hearing and 108 since). He said all of that input had been shared with committee members.

“I recommend that we extend the decision-making timeline for a couple of months to get more information about the nutrient management plan,” committee chairman Dave Olson said.

“We had a hearing, the county has done what it is required to do, we have an approved Wisconsin Pollution Discharge and Elimination System (WPDES) permit from Wisconsin DNR, and we need to approve this permit now,” Cornford said.

“We’re here today to vote on this permit, operating within the laws,” Moret said. “We are not here today to vote on public opinion.”

Troester explained to citizens present that State of Wisconsin laws for Livestock Facility Siting limit the kinds of things that the committee can consider in making their decision. In our ordinance, it gives the applicant the option, when applying for the county permit, to replace Worksheets 3-5 with the WPDES permit from WDNR.

“This is really an issue for the State of Wisconsin to ensure that the laws regarding Livestock Facility Siting are what they should be,” Kuhn said. “This is not something that Crawford County should be doing.”

“If you don’t like the laws, then you have an opportunity in today’s election to go out and vote for candidates that could make better laws,” Moret said. “Get out there and vote today!”