Winneshiek County will appeal Iowa DNR's grant of a permit to Millenium Ag to expand

The Iowa Environmental Protection Commission will be asked to determine whether a permit should be issued to allow the expansion of Millenium Ag's hog confinement operation in northern Winneshiek County.

Winneshiek County supervisors voted 5-0 Tuesday to ask the EPC to overturn the Iowa DNR's preliminary granting of such a permit.

Supervisor Dean Thompson proposed the appeal because of the karst topography in the area and the location near Bear Creek.  "How many more of these (confinement operations) do we need?" he asked.

Millenium Ag proposed to raise 4,100 hogs at their facility.  Normally that would trigger a review by the DNR's master matrix, but because the permit asks for an expansion of an existing facility rather than construction of a new facility, the master matrix was not used.

The Environmental Proection Commission will have until the first week of October to issue a ruling.