Minnesota Pollution Control Agency

Environmental Review: Joel Fischer, 651-296-8643 Information Officer: Nancy Miller, 507-280-3590 Toll-free: 1-800-657-3864 Rochester, Minn. - The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) seeks comments on an Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW) prepared for the Lowell Franzen Feedlot in Lyle Township. Lowell Franzen proposes construction of a new swine gestation and farrowing facility. The total confinement, mechanically-ventilated facility will consist of a 4,064-sow gestation barn and a farrowing barn with capacity for 768 sows and 1,280 nursery pigs. The proposed facility would house a total of 6,112 pigs, or 1,997 animal units. Manure would be collected in reinforced concrete pits beneath the barns. Twice a year, manure would be pumped from below the barns and injected as fertilizer on designated cropland. The EAW provides basic information about how a proposed project could potentially affect the environment, and helps determine whether an Environmental Impact Statement, a more comprehensive environmental review, is needed. Interested parties may comment on the EAW during the public notice period, which begins Monday, Jan. 29. Written comments must be received at the MPCA St. Paul office by 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 28. Copies of the Lowell Franzen Feedlot EAW are available at:
· MPCA St. Paul office, 520 Lafayette Road N.
· MPCA Rochester office, 18 Wood Lake Drive S.E.
· Austin Public Library, 323 4th Avenue NE
· MPCA Web site at www.pca.state.mn.us
Send questions and comments on the Lowell Franzen Feedlot EAW to Joel Fischer, Environmental Review and Operations, MPCA, 520 Lafayette Road N., Saint Paul, MN 55155. Fischer can also be reached by phone at 651-296-8643, fax at 651-297-2343 or by e-mail at joel.fischer@pca.state.mn.us.