"It's so frustrating because they feel so powerless; they feel nobody cares," said Jane Halliburton, chairwoman of the board of supervisors. "But we have no authority to do anything about this." State law and Supreme Court rulings over the past five years have stripped local authorities of the power to regulate where such facilities are built, Halliburton said.
The erosion of local power has been a frustration to Story County officials for several years. But rarely has Story County had to deal with the effects of the changes. Hog-confinement operators have typically skipped the county. This week, frustrations boiled over in McCallsburg when construction began on a hog-confinement facility. "We have nine acres of heaven up here, but next spring I won't be smelling lilacs. I'll be smelling hog poop," said Joyce Rasmussen, who lives less than a mile north of the facility, which is being built by New Modern Concepts Inc. and Marton Pork Production, both of Iowa Falls, according to Story County documents. Calls to the businesses were not returned. The hog facility is neither the first nor the biggest of its sort. Construction in Iowa of such operations peaked in 1997.
But the growing battle over a single facility near McCallsburg demonstrates anew the deep conflict between large-scale pork producers and their rural neighbors. When the trucks rolled in Friday near McCallsburg, the old debate took on new importance to another community. "It amazes me how we see examples like this, where even in the same county, people are totally surprised when one shows up," said John Lawrence, an Iowa State University Extension livestock economist. "It's like it never existed until the bulldozer pulls in down the road."
Certainly, the debate takes on urgency for people such as the Rasmussens, who bought their acreage 8 1/2 years ago. On Friday, Joyce and her husband, Mark, began to notice construction crews on the site. The digging began a day later. Rasmussen, who is also the city clerk, is angry that the owners did not notify her before work began. She and others made calls to elected officials. They gathered Monday at City Hall to share their concerns with city and county officials.
The company does not need local permission to build. The Department of Natural Resources requires a construction permit when the weight of hogs planned for the facility exceeds state limits for the type of manure-storage system being used. No such application had been made, state officials said.
According to county documents, the producer plans to build three confinement buildings, each 41 feet by 272 feet. ISU's Lawrence said an operation of that size could handle up to 4,000 animals.
While figures are unavailable, officials say there are relatively few confinements in Story, compared with neighboring counties. They cite higher land values in Story County and zoning regulations that were in place until 1995, when state law changed. Lawrence cited other factors. Producers "went to places they viewed as the best sites, and the ones with the fewest neighbors," Lawrence said. "Story County is more densely populated, and the thought was: `Why invite trouble, if you can avoid it?'
Iowa's hog laws: