Proposed feedlot operation raises a stink with neighbours

By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on August 31, 2024.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com

An application to build a new combined feedlot operation near Stavely has prompted the formation of a community coalition and 750 signatures opposed to it.

The Hutterite Brethren of Ivy Ridge has applied to build a new CFO in the Municipal District of Willow Creek.

That application is presently under review by the Natural Resources Conservation Board which is responsible for reviewing major natural resource projects and the regulation of combined feeding operations in Alberta under the Agricultural Operation Practices Act, legislation which is the responsibility of Alberta Agriculture and Irrigation, says the NRCB.

Its website states the NRCB is “responsible for quasi-judicial reviews under the Natural Resources Conservation Board Act, appeals under the Agricultural Operation Practices Act, and governance. The Board has a chair and two members. Acting board members provide support to the board in times of increased activity. Members of the board are recruited by open competition and are appointed by the Lieutenant Governor-in-Council for terms that do not exceed five years.”

The review of the proposed operation includes the responses from neighbours and other parties that were received by the deadline of July 18.

The NRCB says the AOPA sets out technical standards and regulations to protect groundwater and surface water and also to reduce the nuisance impact of an operation on neighbours. It must deny applications which don’t meet AOPA standards or which aren’t consistent with land use provisions within the municipal development plan in the municipality in which the proposed operation is located.

The application by the Hutterian Brethren is to build a chicken layer and pullet barn, a dairy barn, calf shed and dry cow barn, broiler barn and a mixed poultry barn for 150 dairy cows plus associated dries and replacements, as well as 18,000 chicken layers, 34,000 chicken pullets/broilers, 1,000 ducks and 100 geese. The initial application as made on Dec. 19, 2023.

Chelsey Hurt, who owns land in the area along with her family, has with other opponents serious concerns about the project which they feel will negatively impact their community.

Opponents feel small farming operations can’t compete with the economic scale of commercial operations. They note that Hutterites don’t employ local workers “and are in a position to offer services such as welding and fabricating at a reduced rate due to economies of scale, which can result in job loss for community members.”

Opponents also say that commercial operations “employ intensive practices that can lead to soil degradation, water pollution and loss of biodiversity, reducing the sustainability of the land.” They are also concerned about the increase of environmental pollution which they feel can affect air quality.

And they say such operations can cause community decline as small farming operations close and people leave the area, impacting businesses, schools and community organizations which can weaken and fragment social ties. They believe Stavely will be susceptible to decline if the CFO is approved.

One opponent, Greg Olsen, wrote to the NRCB stating approval of the CFO would cause a degradation in quality of life. He has concerns with living in close proximity to manure storage, saying whoever determined 500 metres distance adequate “didn’t have to live with the consequences of that measurement.” He also said there could be mental suffering with other CFOs in the province having negative impacts on neighbouring communities.

Another opponent, Bev Olsen, in a letter to the Lethbridge-based approval officer, says the CFO would drastically alter the cultural fabric of their community with concerns such operations don’t integrate into local educational and commercial frameworks which can potentially disrupt “interconnected small family farms and community cohesion. Small family farms form the basis of the backbone of our community, not large community operations,” she writes.

Hurt says odours of such operations will spread far beyond the borders of the minimum distances required of CFO to be away from neighbours. And she believes there is not enough water to service the CFO as well as other operations with that source being Mosquito Creek from which she says water will be pumped from April through October to a reservoir.

Often, says Hurt, there is only enough water to pump from April to June and there isn’t enough to sustain a CFO and a potential splinter colony which opponents are also worried about.

Under AOPA there must be a 100-metre setback for manure storage facilities from water wells and springs and a 30-metre setback from a common water body.

“There are a lot of issues with water monitoring,” says Hurt, noting that one solution is to tap into underground water stores. But her brother a decade ago had to drill three times for water and when successful only had a low flow rate. Her own parents, she recalled, had to choose between feeding cattle or doing laundry with available water supplies.

“Small farmers can’t truck in water every day” and can be forced to sell out to larger corporations because of such need and cost, says Hurt.

And Hurt feels there is undue burden on opponents to provide scientific evidence that they will be impacted.

Hurt says regardless of the decision made, she expects it to be appealed. and the NRCB itself in a Thursday email to the Herald said anyone found to be a directly impacted party can indeed appeal by submitting a request for review to its board.

The MD of Willow Creek is automatically considered to be a directly affected party and would have standing at any board hearing on the issue.

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