The factory farm industry is built upon reaping profits at the expense of communities, and Kyle Mens’ proposed hog-confinement site, less than a mile away from Hickory Grove Park in Story County, is no exception. Everyone in our community (besides Mens) will suffer if this proposal is approved, from family farmers who are trying to make a living that doesn’t damage everyone else, to neighbors who would have to suffer the stench of millions of gallons of manure. That’s not to mention each of the 70,000 people who annually enjoy Hickory Grove. The lake and its watershed encompasses the proposed site, as well as most of the fields upon which the manure will be spread. Our county won’t even get the profits produced by all this damage: Those will go into the pockets of Maschhoff Pork of Illinois, the fourth-largest pork-production corporation in the country.

The Story County Board of Supervisors, the Conservation Board and even the DNR are claiming that, since the site is under the permitting threshold of 2,500 head, their hands are tied on this issue. That’s simply wrong. If all the elected representatives of Story County, from Sens. Harkin and Grassley on down to our local mayors, called Mens and told him that our community doesn’t want this hog confinement, I guarantee it would not be built. If all of us, including our elected officials, demonstrate a united opposition to the Mens site, even abuse of the permitting rules won’t be enough to build this factory farm.