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The Mina Lake Association had a meeting Thursday, Oct. 16 at Wakeside Bar & Grill to discuss concerns about a 25,000-head dairy proposed within the Mina Lake area watershed. Aberdeen Insider photo by Shannon Marvel.
MINA — Mina area residents and landowners packed the basement of Wakeside Bar & Grill Thursday, Oct. 16, to share their thoughts on a proposed 25,000-head dairy in Edmunds County.
Specifically, they were interested in how the dairy could affect the water in Mina Lake and its watershed.
The meeting was hosted by the Mina Lake Association, and nobody from Riverview LLC, the company hoping to build the dairy, spoke.
On Sept. 23, the Edmunds County Board of Zoning Adjustment voted 4-1 to approve Riverview’s conditional use permit request to build the dairy. According to the application, Belle Dairy would be built on about 400 acres roughly 5 miles north of Craven Corner.
MORE: Edmunds County Zoning Board approves permit for 25,000-head dairy
However, the South Dakota Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources must approve a concentrated animal feeding operation permit before the project can move ahead.
State permits would also be needed for manure management and, if necessary, water rights.
Lee Brixey, a fifth-generation farmer whose home is within a half-mile of the proposed dairy site, said during the Mina meeting that he feels “pretty mistreated” by planning and zoning board members for giving him “three minutes to beg for my life” during the September public hearing in Ipswich.
The married father of two young children said he recently got the chance to buy the farm his family now calls home.
“Just built a new shop, got a nice home,” Brixey said.
Neighbor of potential dairy says he was asked to sell his land
He shared details of what he said Riverview representatives discussed with him during a visit during this summer. Twenty minutes into the conversation, Brixey said, they asked if he’d be willing to sell his property to the Morris, Minn., company.
“They tell me I’m going to hear them, going to smell them,” Brixey said. “I plan on being there forever, the only way I’ll leave is to be with my kids.”
He also questioned whether 128th Street/Edmunds County Road 18 could withstand the excess water that could flow from the dairy.
Brixey said a lot of water runs through the area, and the road washes out. He doesn’t buy Riverview’s claim that there won’t be any runoff resulting from the dairy. He said only a few big landowners would benefit from the project and that there’s a better place for the dairy, and his comments were met with applause from the friendly crowd.
Garrett Heinz is a dairy farmer who isn’t a Mina Lake area resident, but was asked to share his knowledge of the large-scale dairy industry. He outlined ways in which Riverview might not have local farmers’ best interests in mind.
“I know there’s a lot of big farmers who think they’re pulling up to a bigger table and it’s all business. I’m all for free market. I’m a limited-government guy. But when you add extra subsidies to all these, it’s not free market,” Heinz said.
Too many agriculture-related projects get help from the government, he said.
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Jeff Thorne said he’s lived at Mina Lake for more than 36 years. He asked what can be done to improve the lake’s water quality whether or not Belle Dairy comes to be.
“It’s nitrogen, it’s phosphorus, it’s us putting this on the lawns. If we stop this, what are we going to do to clean up our lake? That’s my question out of all this,” Thorne said.
A couple Mina Lake residents said they have volunteered to undergo training with the state Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources and perform quarterly water-testing in different parts of the watershed. The results should provide more comprehensive insight into water quality and how it fluctuates under certain conditions.
Mina Lake area residents sign a petition that asks the South Dakota Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources to consider the environmental impact of a proposed dairy and require an environmental impact study before approving a permit. Aberdeen Insider photo by Shannon Marvel.
Petitions ask DANR for environmental impact study
Those at the meeting were encouraged to sign petitions to be submitted to the DANR when the Belle Dairy permit application is submitted for public comment. They ask the department to consider the location of dairy manure applications in the watershed, the water quality of the area’s lakes and how the dairy’s need for water could affect wells that are tapped by others. The petition also requests that an environmental impact study be required and that all existing dairies and businesses within the watershed be preserved.
For now, Belle Dairy’s fate is up to the DANR, which will review Riverview’s application after it’s filed and make recommendations about granting the needed permits. That request has not yet been posted on the department’s public notice page at danr.sd.gov/public/default.aspx.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture defines a CAFO as an intensive animal feeding operation in which more than 1,000 animal units are confined for more than 45 days a year. An animal unit is defined as the equivalent of 1,000 pounds of live animal weight.
