Chicken farm decision delayed once again
By: Joe Harris
jharris@klkntv.com
On Wednesday, the Lancaster County Planning Commission’s voted 4-2 to approve a proposed chicken farming operation by Costco fell short of the five votes needed to pass.
The decision is now delayed until August 15th. It came after more than four hours of testimony.
Randy Essink would run the operation in partnership with Lincoln Premium Poultry.
"They have a very good team in place that has many, many years of experience," Essink said. "And those people will be…teaching us and supporting us as we learn the best way to do this."
The company talked about how the chickens would be raised antibiotic free and how they would dispose of litter.
"You pull it up into a windrow and it sits there for approximately 11 days," said Jessica Kolterman of Lincoln Premium Poultry. "The intent is for the temperature to get to 140–150 degrees and that will destroy the bacteria and break down any ammonia or pathogens,"
Environmental lawyer Jonathan Leo said the agreement between Essink and Lincoln Premium Poultry isn’t clear. He said the commission wouldn’t know who would be liable for any damage the operation may cause.
"They could end up holding the bag for some very, very serious liability issues," Leo said. "They might go under and then the problems would be the public’s problems."
Some said they weren’t impressed with the operation meeting the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality’s standards.
"Does anybody want to ask them what the standards are that when we have every stream east of O’Neill, that’s polluted from anywhere from Category 2 to Category 5 — which is the highest pollutant level that NDEQ can put on it?" said Randy Ruppert of Nebraska Communities United.
The two commissioners who voted against the proposal said they were concerned over water and litter issues.
There will be no testimony at next meeting on. Depending on how that vote goes the decision can be appealed to the Lancaster County Board, who would make the final decision.
