With just over one week remaining to sign up, nearly three-quarters of the counties in the state have said they’ll use a state formula for evaluating the proposed locations for new livestock confinement operations. Gene Tinker of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources says some 70 counties have signed up to use the state "master matrix."
Tinker says the document allows counties to have some say in where the livestock operations are allowed as it exceeds the state’s minimum requirements. All applications for the construction of livestock operations must meet the minimum standards, unless the county has adopted the master matrix, then they need to meet the matrix standards.
Tinker expects to see the number go over 70 before the sign-up deadline. Tinker says they generally have around 85 counties, and the counties have until the end of the month to sign up. He says the counties that sign up aren’t always the same, as some drop.
Tinker says the matrix requires counties to do some additional work, and many times the counties are too busy to take part. He says counties have to be sure they’re consistent in their use of the matrix, and it takes time to review all the information. Tinker says some county leaders just don’t like the matrix.
He says some counties don’t feel the matrix provides them enough input into the process and so they don’t participate. Only the producers that apply for a construction permit are subject to review by the counties that use the matrix.
The following 70 counties have adopted resolutions to use the matrix as of the middle of this month: Adair, Adams, Appanoose, Audubon, Benton, Black Hawk, Boone, Bremer, Buchanan, Butler, Calhoun, Carroll, Cass, Cedar, Cerro Gordo, Cherokee, Clinton, Crawford, Dallas, Davis, Delaware, Des Moines, Dickinson, Dubuque, Emmet, Fayette, Floyd, Franklin, Greene, Grundy, Guthrie, Hamilton, Hancock, Hardin, Howard, Humboldt, Ida, Jackson, Jefferson, Johnson, Jones, Kossuth, Linn, Louisa, Lucas, Lyon, Madison, Marion, Marshall, Mitchell, Monona, Monroe, Montgomery, Muscatine, Obrien, Page, Pocahontas, Poweshiek, Ringgold, Shelby, Sioux, Tama, Taylor, Wayne, Webster, Winnebago, Winneshiek, Woodbury, Worth and Wright counties.
For more information, visit the DNR’s website .