And lots of it – $$$. Sources tell www.maxfrankweaver.com that a deal has been struck. The prime time players are the usual suspects: Robin Anderson and Chad Schreck. The duo have gone on the offense and have been working around the clock the past four days, convincing and giving Mayor Eric Bookmeyer the will to live again. This back room deal has given Eric Bookmeyer a new mission: To convince one of our favorite council members to bring this back (and I hear he’s willing to do it) – with the promise of lots and lots of new found cash in the hastily written, regurgitated development agreement with Prestage Foods, LLC. On a side note, it seems not all is well with all of the Economic Development Board Members. There’s been a shake-up and some dissension. Look out Mason City and North Iowa. It’s back. And with a vengeance $$$.
More later…MFW
PRESTAGE FARMS
Prestage Farms is the nations fourth largest hog corporation.42 The companys facilities in Mississippi have raised concerns among neighbors. One facility in particular in Oktibbeha County, a 7,040-head operation under contract with Prestage, has been the focus of controversy because of its location adjacent to the Noxubee Wildlife Refuge, home to many endangered species and a local tourist attraction. Neighbors believe that polluted runoff from a manure lagoon or from fields sprayed with liquid hog manure could foul adjacent Browning Creek and ultimately the Noxubee River, which runs through the wildlife refuge. Despite community objections, the state granted the facility a permit and the facility has been in full operation since October 1997.43 Odor and contaminants from the facility were the subject of a $10 million lawsuit brought by a neighbora father who claimed that the pollutants aggravated his teenagers asthma.44 In 1997, a chancery court judge ruled that because of the particulate air pollution emitted from the facility, the state was obligated to issue an air quality permit to the contract farm. However, the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality has not enforced the decision.45 This ruling prompted the states legislature to exempt hog farms from air quality standards, but allowed local governments to establish local controls.46 Since the establishment of the original facility two years ago, more facilities have requested permits to establish operations near the refuge.47 Fifty-two counties established rules for CAFOs, but Prestage Farms sued the six counties in which the company had facilities. Concerned about the expenses of litigation, five of the counties eliminated their ordinances. One county, Monroe County, defended its ordinance and won the legal challenge. Then a state moratorium on the building of new CAFOs was established until January 2000. After the Health Department decided to take a cautionary approach regarding possible health impacts of these facilities, the moratorium was extended. The factory farms in Mississippi controlled by Prestage produce 300,000 hogs per year. If the moratorium is lifted, the corporation plans to establish 33 more facilities.48
November 1994: In Lowndes County, Mississippi, several discharges from over- application of manure onto the land from Prestage Farms into James Creek resulted in a $15,000 state fine that was then reduced to $6,375.49
January 2000: Over 500 neighbors of Prestage Farms hog factory farms, processing plants, and meat packers in Chicksaw and Clay counties in Mississippi filed a $75 million class action lawsuit claiming that air pollution from the facilities has led to unusually high levels of asthma, migraines, and other illnesses. The families that have brought the lawsuit have the backing of the Sierra Club.50
Believe me.. The Iowa Pork Producers got cousins uncles brothers Mothers Sisters and the new born supporting the Kill Plant. Why not citizens of Clear Lake who I know of many that are in opposition