The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) today released its draft permit and environmental assessment worksheet (EAW) for Heartland Hutterian Brethren, Inc., a 9,600-head swine finishing feedlot in Pipestone County. The environmental assessment includes the estimated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for the proposed feedlot and identifies nearby waterways with existing water quality issues that could be impacted by spreading manure on farm fields as well as steps the facility will take to minimize those impacts.
The swine will be housed in two total confinement-finishing facilities. Liquid manure and wastewater will be stored in eight-foot deep concrete storage pits under each barn. The facility’s buildings are power-ventilated buildings and include an attached office and load-out area.
Feedlot operators will apply 2.88 million gallons of manure generated annually into approximately 768 acres of Heartland-controlled cropland as fertilizer each fall. All manure application acres are located within five miles of the project in Fountain Prairie Township and Altona Township, both in Pipestone County. The Lincoln-Pipestone Rural Water System will provide the approximately three million gallons of water to the feedlot each year as no wells exist on the project site.
The MPCA estimates that the proposed feedlot would produce approximately 64,967 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year — equivalent to 12,818 passenger vehicles driven each year. The agency made the estimate using a calculator developed by the U.S. EPA, which takes into account emissions from manure collection and storage (methane and nitrous oxide), and manure land application (nitrous oxide) and then converts the tons per source to tons of carbon dioxide for ease of reporting and comparing. Overall, the project has been designed and located to minimize potential adverse odor/air emissions impacts.
Best management practices in place will minimize cumulative impacts on nearby rivers and streams and criteria for the design of manure storage structures are in place to protect groundwater. The environmental assessment does not expect the project to impact area wildlife since nearby land is used for open agricultural cropland and provides little protection, food, cover for wildlife.
State agencies use the EAW to help decide whether a more thorough environmental impact statement (EIS) is needed. The worksheet describes the project’s potential effects on nearby land uses, bodies of water, groundwater, and wildlife and habitat. It also details air and vehicle emissions, dust, traffic, noise, and odors that the project might produce.
The MPCA invites the public to comment on the assessment. Residents should consider the worksheet’s accuracy, potential impacts from the project that warrant further investigation, or the need for an environmental impact statement.
The Heartland Hutterian Brethren, Inc. EAW and draft permit are available on the MPCA website. Mail or email comments by 4:30 pm. on Friday, April 22, 2022. For copies of the documents or to provide written comments:
- EAW — Kirsten Barta (651-757-2827) MPCA, 520 Lafayette Road North, St. Paul, MN 55155-4194
- Feedlot permit — Kourtney Frank (218-316-3874) MPCA, 7678 College Road, Suite 105, Baxter, MN 56425
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