Panel approves rules for livestock confinements

Rules giving county officials a chance to review and score applications for large-scale hog confinements have been approved by a legislative review panel. Joe Royce is the legal counsel for the Legislature’s Administrative Rules Review Committee.Royce says the committee met yesterday and decided to let the rules go into effect now, but held out the possibility they’ll review ’em in a while, after they’ve seen how the rules work. He says a number of legislators felt the rules went beyond what was intended in the legislation, by allowing more than one score to calculate the matrix. Royce says there was public testimony before the committee made its decision, and he says there were comments all over the map on both sides. In 2002, the Iowa Legislature passed new restrictions for big livestock operations, giving county officials an opportunity to review construction or expansion plans and score them. Those scores are to be forwarded to state officials who have the final say on whether permits are granted.