BEATRICE – The Gage County Board has rejected a special use permit for a huge hog operation near Liberty, on a 3-3- vote….with Board Chairman Erich Tiemann abstaining.


Five affirmative votes were required under county regulations for approval, since at least 20-percent of adjoining landowners formally signed petitions in opposition to the plan by Otto Farms of rural Adams, and Summit Pork, of Alden Iowa.


The county had attached several conditions to the permit dealing with screening and visibility, groundwater protections, how manure is stored and applied and incineration of dead animals, among other things. But in the end, the permit failed to gain approval. Those voting in favor of the permit were Terry Jurgens, of rural Odell…Dave Swavely of Beatrice and Don Schuller, of rural Wymore. Voting no on the permit were Eddie Dorn, of rural Filley, Emily Haxby, of rural Clatonia and Gary Lytle, of Beatrice.


Only Schuller publicly stated his reasoning following the vote, as the meeting came to a close.  "As a former employee of NRCS, and this having been my job, I have a better comfort level than probably most everybody else here, because I've worked with the engineers that design these....and I know how fussy they are and how particular they are...and I have an understanding of the science that goes into it. I hope you will consider my position in your thoughts in the future on this. I'm the one that has to live with my decision, sleep well at night and respect myself for the decisions I've made...and defend myself. And, I feel I can do that."


Schuller represents a district that includes the area of the proposed operation.


Summit and Otto Farms proposed a 6,250 head of swine enclosed project just north of Liberty, Nebraska along South 176th Road. The project had already received a state operating and construction permit, following an extensive environmental review.


Opponents of the project had objected to it primarily on issues of odor, potential effect on groundwater, effect on property values and safety concerns regarding the road accessing it.


Supervisor Dave Swavely proposed the several conditions on the permit, prior to the overall vote on the permit resolution.  "I wrote this because this is really, really hard. We've sworn to an oath to abide by the laws...and if all the T's are crossed and all the I's are dotted, we don't really have any recourse. If you look at all the information that we've been given over the time...you gotta lean sometimes towards are they right, or are they wrong? I'm sorry the way they feel...maybe I would feel the same way. But, we have a job to do, right or wrong. That's one of the reasons why I put some of the extras in here. We know if this gets approved, shortly afterward, there's going to be a new landowner down there for a small parcel of land....and the farmer is going to farm the ground. Somebody has to watch that."


Public hearings were held on the plan which would have produced manure to be injected as fertilizer into fields owned by Otto Farms.