Contact: Steve Mikkelson, 218-316-3887 or 800-657-3864
Brainerd, Minn.--The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) is inviting public comment on an Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW) for a proposed total confinement swine facility in Todd County 11 miles west of Long Prairie. The 30-day comment period ends Aug. 23, 2012.
The proposed Gourley Brothers confinement facility would house 2,930 sows, 300 nursery pigs and 750 replacement gilts. In a total confinement swine operation, the animals remain indoors and there are no open lots. The facility will be 230 feet wide by 424 feet long. All manure generated at the site will be contained in a 12-foot-deep below-ground concrete liquid manure storage area. The manure will remain in this storage area until fall, when it will land applied after harvest. The application sites are in Leslie Township within four miles of the proposed facility.
Construction is expected to begin this summer, upon completion of the environmental review process and issuance of a federal/state discharge permit.
A draft copy of the Gourley Brothers National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System/State Disposal System permit is available for review and comment on the MPCA Public Notices webpage.
An EAW is a preliminary environmental review of how a proposed project could potentially affect the environment. An EAW also helps the MPCA determine whether an Environmental Impact Statement (a more in-depth environmental review) is needed.
Written comments on the Gourley Brothers EAW should be submitted by 4:30 p.m. on Aug. 23, 2012. They should be mailed to Kevin Kain, MPCA, 520 Lafayette Rd. N., Saint Paul, MN 55155-4194, or sent to him by fax (651-297-2343) or by email kevin.kain@state.mn.us.
Copies of the Gourley Brothers EAW are also available for review at the MPCA office at 7678 College Road in Baxter and at the MPCA’s St. Paul office at 520 Lafayette Road North.
To request a copy of the EAW from the MPCA, call 651-757-2101. Other telephone inquiries related to this project should be directed to Kevin Kain at 651-757-2482 or 800-657-3864, email kevin.kain@state.mn.us.
