IL Department of Agriculture Ignores Scientists from State Geological Survey

Scientists' warnings of likely well contamination go unheeded

A wealthy California investor has been invited by the Illinois Department of Agriculture (IDOA) and the Farm Bureau to build an 11,000-head factory dairy (CAFO) in eastern Jo Daviess County, an ecologically fragile area due to its fractured bedrock (karst), without requiring the applicant to adhere to the IDOA's own guidelines.

The IDOA's guidelines require any CAFO (confined animal feeding operation) built on karst to adhere to a very strict set of construction standards. These standards include completely lining all waste ponds with concrete to prevent these enormous structures from collapsing when built over the sinkholes and fissures that characterize karst bedrock. Four Illinois state geologists and soil experts have all firmly stated that this facility would be precariously situated over fragile karst bedrock, significantly increasing the probability of local well water contamination from manure seepage. However, the IDOA is openly ignoring the warnings of these karst experts at the Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS), instead favoring the opinion of the millionaire's hired geologist, who claims the land is not karst.

"The proposed sites for the dairy facility are underlain by a karst aquifer," stated ISGS Senior Geochemist Samuel V. Panno in his second report on the site of the proposed facility. "In a karst aquifer, surface-borne pollutants, such as a spill or seepage of animal waste, can contaminate wells miles away from the source in a matter of hours."

The IDOA's decision will allow the applicant to simply line the waste ponds with compacted soil, which cannot support itself should a sinkhole open up anywhere beneath the 68 acres of liquid waste. By putting the profits of an out-of-state businessman ahead of the health concerns of the citizens of Illinois, the IDOA has again demonstrated that they exist to serve corporate agriculture, rather than the farmers and residents of the state of Illinois.

When the state legislature gave the IDOA the power to site CAFOs over the objections of county boards, they included safety provisions for facilities built on karst. The IDOA is readily leveraging that law to ignore the "NO" vote from the Jo Daviess County Board, while concurrently violating that same law by permitting clay-lined ponds instead of concrete. It is now imperative for the state legislature to give the people of Illinois the power to reject CAFOs by making their elected county board officials' decisions binding, rather than just advisory.

The above post arrived this week and contains many errors.

I will prepare a listing of as many as I have time to unveil.

Play nice-M

I am posting this in response to the notice: IL Department of Agriculture Ignores Scientists from State Geological Survey, distributed by Matthew Auschuler, a spokesperson for the HOMES organization that is fighting the licensing of Traditions Dairy near Nora, IL.

Matthew,

Your title contains the plural scientists. Do you now have more than one resource conservationist making claims about the soil composition at the proposed site? Who are they and on what information are they basing their statements?

Your first sentence terms Bos to be a wealthy investor. This is negative innuendo. He is a life-long dairy farmer and since when is it wrong to have money in America?

That same first sentence claims that the IDOA and the Farm Bureau invited him. That is not true.

Your first sentence also says he is building an 11,000 head factory dairy. That is not true. He is now requesting license for a 3600 head dairy.

Your second paragraph presupposes that the site is karst. Karst is an area of irregular limestone in which erosion produces fissures, sinkholes, underground streams, and caverns. We all know that the jury is still out on the soil samples.

Further, you know as well as I that there are two geo-survey maps, each showing different karst formations. You also know that Terry Feldmann (Bos engineer) and Larry Lyons (Lyons Well Digging, Stockton, IL) took soil samples, analyzed them, and shared the SAMPLES not the results with resource conservationists including the renowned but apparently lazy Sam Panno aka. Mr Karst.

If Mr Karst (Panno) is truly concerned about the outcome of this argument he would do well to get out of his office and visit the site, gather his own samples, analyze them and release a factual statement. Thus far, he has not been to the site. He relies on the samples supplied by others (at least three sets as of today) and then quickly says the samples are inconclusive and asks for another set.

As taxpayers paying his wage, we should be angry about his inability to perform his job and we should release him from his duties. If you were not so busy pandering to this Mr Karst (Panno) and cultivating an opinion from him that reflects your own, you would demand his termination.

Your statement - The IDOA's decision will allow the applicant to simply line the waste ponds with compacted soil – is not true. The Bos plans call for lining the ponds with blue clay, a substance that exceeds the requirements set out in the Livestock Management Act. While blue clay may not meet the requirements set out for karst, it remains unclear at this time as to whether or not the site is karst, again, largely due to Mr Karst’s refusal or inability to perform his job.

Finally, I admire your suggestion that we all work to change the law allowing a county board to make a binding decision on Concentrated Feeding Animal Operations. However, because the HOMES (Hopelessly Obsessed with Misleading Environmental Statistics) organization continues working so hard to spread so much misinformation about this particular issue, I have to ask if you really feel that allowing deliberately misled non-professionals like the Jo Daviess County Board to make the decision is a good idea.

M Clayton:
You must be real good buddies with Mr. Bos. You seem to care more about his finances than the health and safety of our community.
First of all, there a several karst experts who have confirmed that this is indeed karst area. Not just Panno. Bos has only 1 geologist who is not a karst expert.
Bos is NOT a real farmer. He sits in his 2 million $ home in Bakersfield while he pollutes other communities 1000's of miles away. He is an investor who has made his money from the tax payers of this country through farm subsidies. Look him up on EWG.ORG under Arend J. Bos. He and his family have taken millions from the tax payers to run their business.
Yes,he was invited to come into Illinois by the IDOA when an IDOA representative took a trip to California a few years back. Its on record.
His original NOITC was for 13,700 animal units. That has been cut in half because he is starting out with the South facility first. He started out in Oregon with a permit for 15,000 head.There are about 95,000 head in that area now.
There are simply many more experts who have determined this AREA (not just the site) to be karst.
Its funny that you are so worried about the State paying Panno's wages,but you show no concern over all of the money and time the State is consuming to help this rich man(Bos)to get richer.
Clay is a type of soil. "simply lining the ponds with compacted soil" is a true statement. The Karst requirements are not based on soil of any type. They are based on ridged material. That is the point of that TRUE statement.
And finally, having local control for local issues is what America is all about. You sound like you must be a communist or socialist M Clayton. The government controls these things in communist and socialist countries. In America we have this thing where we vote on issues and the majority rules. Maybe you should find another country that suits your beliefs.
STOPTHEMEGADAIRY.ORG

Just wondering if anyone heard the same as I, that most of all the cow waste has been already spoken for by farmers thoughout the area, and that the cows waste will be in concrete slury pits. Thats what i heard.