On Oct. 23, I was driving east on U.S. 20 from Interstate 35. From that junction to Iowa Highway 65, the smell of hog manure was constant. Worse was that the operators were spreading manure on the crop ground. It is supposed to be knife injected into the soil, but it was apparently being spread on the surface. For mile after mile, the air was not breathable.

Anyone with respiratory problems would have been at risk and there was no escape. I noticed only a few farmsteads in that area, mostly hog confinements. We have allowed the creation of a huge area where people can’t safely live. The proposed hog confinement in northern Linn County will take hundreds of acres for the manure of 5,600 hogs, so the area impacted is much larger and closer to more people. This operation will belong to an Illinois company with Illinois hogs and Illinois feed. We get a living for one farmer and all of the manure.

The manure spread area will be within 2 miles of Center Point, 3.8 miles from Troy Mills, 3.8 miles from Walker, 5.5 miles from Alburnett and 1 mile from Alice Church. It will impact dozens of family farms’ values and quality of life. Tell the Department of Natural Resources and your legislators to stop it.

Dennis Schlicht

Center Point