LARNED — A public meeting has been scheduled for March 4 at the Pawnee County Courthouse, to offer information in opposition to the proposed 88,000-head feedlot to be located in Pawnee County by Innovative Livestock Services.
The hour-long session, scheduled for 6:30 p.m., is intended to bring to light environmental concerns which, if the feedlot was allowed to be constructed, would exacerbate conditions already being experienced in Pawnee County.
Merrill Cauble and Felix Revello, both longtime Pawnee County residents, have been active in providing information to officials in Pawnee County and the public since intention to build the feedlot in Pawnee County was announced in December.
Cauble, a lifetime resident of Pawnee County with roots in the Zook community where the proposed feedlot is to be located, approached Revello with his concerns sometime before the official announcement was made, Revello said.
“Merrill actually called me and told me he had been in touch with the ‘Socially Responsible Agricultural Project,’ which is an advocacy organization for farmers,” Revello said. Cauble had been in contact with Mike Callicrate, who is on the board of the SRAP (https://sraproject.org/).
“Mike recommended SRAP to Merrill, who contacted them for assistance. Mike has been a leader in the Kansas Cattlemans Association and R-CALF, both organizations dedicated to protecting cattle producers from market concentration,” Revello said. The SRAP has been in place for more than 20 years as a mobilizing force to help communities protect themselves from the damages caused by industrial livestock operations, as well as an advocate for a food system built on regenerative practices.
“This feedlot project has been known to the community for a while; Merrill is a lifelong resident of Pawnee County and he is concerned because the feedlot is proposed to be built close to his family, in that area,” Revello said. “He is also concerned about increased air pollution around Larned and nitrates in the water.”
Cauble and Revello have since appeared at Commission meetings in Pawnee and Stafford counties and the Larned City Council to air their concerns.
“They seem to be more interested in expediting the feedlot project than dealing with environmental impacts,” Revello said. “They are ignoring facts in helping the feedlot.”
Revello noted that with the feedlot in place and operating at capacity, Pawnee County could be on the receiving end of more than 5.72 million pounds of manure daily, based on an average output of 65 pounds per day per cow.
“That’s on top of the estimated 3.84 million pounds of ‘output’ from the existing two feedlots just south of Larned if they were to operate at their full 59,000 head permitted capacity. This is not considering the 13,000 head feedlot southwest of Pawnee Rock,” Revello said.
“An 88,000 head feedlot raises many concerns. They stem from the inability of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) to effectively prevent seepage of nitrates from cattle manure into aquifers at the two existing feedlots,” Revello noted.
“The existing and proposed feedlots are in highly permeable sandy soils and geological layers susceptible to infiltration from leaky feedyard runoff lagoons and applications of lagoon water on fields,” Revello explained. “Manure in solid form can easily leach into the aquifer when dissolved during rain and irrigation. Since 2001, water well tests reveal extensive nitrate pollution beneath and near the existing feed yards and efforts to fix this problem have not worked. Nitrate concentrations remain many times above the safe health standard.
“With KDHE unable to remediate the existing feedlots, we doubt KDHE’s ability to prevent the same sorts of pollution from occurring at a much larger feedlot located over similar soils and geology. Many are concerned that another feed yard will seriously intensify the dust and odors Larned and rural residents already experience. This is more than an aesthetic concern. In Texas, a rare study of feed yard air pollution revealed antibiotic-resistant bacteria disperses for miles around feedyards,” he said.
A Facebook site entitled “Pawnee Citizens Advocating for Rural Environment and Economy,” was created as an information board in February, following the announcement of a KDHE hearing to be held on March 25 at the Larned Community Center.
“The meeting is actually in two sessions,” Revello noted. “It’s really important that the public attended the informal session prior to the hearing (from 5:30-6:15 p.m.) because that’s when questions may be asked and answers given. It’s also important to have written comments ready to present to the KDHE at that time.
“There are a number of citizens that have already made their feelings known that they do not want another feedlot in Pawnee County, We encourage them to attend this meeting on March 4. If you believe as we do, that KDHE must not permit an 88,000 head feed yard unless concerns with the existing feed yards are fully researched and remediated, join us at the Pawnee County Courthouse on March 4 at 6:30 p.m. as we plan an effective response,” Revello noted.
