The first two major intensive livestock applications made to Alberta’s Natural Resources Conservation Board have been approved.
AAA Cattle Co. at Didsbury and Elite Swine’s Gold Crest Farm near Lomond have been given the green light after more than a year of engineering and environmental scrutiny.
In the case of the Didsbury feedlot, which was approved March 26, angry neighbours still hope to stop it from further development.
Rick Kelk of the Lone Pine community group, which is made up of local farmers and acreage owners, opposes the development. He lives 910 metres from the development, which is the required distance under the regulations.
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“We feel defeated this week, but we’ll be back,” he said at a meeting of the Society for Environmentally Responsible Livestock Operations in Red Deer.
Another neighbour, cattle producer Murray Marsh, lives five kilometres from the site. He said the feedlot operators at AAA Cattle had a permit for 2,500 backgrounder calves, but took in nearly twice that amount without permission last year.
He said his group has lost faith in the NRCB and its ability to enforce regulations when someone exceeds the conditions of their permits.
He said the neighbours’ only recourse is to challenge the approval in court.
“We have the energy and the commitment but I don’t think we have the resources,” Marsh said.
“We had been misled intentionally.”
Simon Cobban, who owns AAA Cattle Co. along with his wife and parents-in-law, admits to accepting more cattle into his feedlot than he had permits for, but said they were drought cattle sold by people who did not have the means to feed them while he had feed available.
The feedlot has permission to expand to 18,200 head, he added. The new permit allows 16,200 backgrounder calves and 2,000 finished animals.
The application process cost his company $350,000 in engineering, research and testing fees. The approval has a number of conditions, including how the clay lining of the manure storage lagoon and pens are monitored for leaks. Water quality must also be monitored around the pens and drainage areas.
Cobban and his family successfully challenged a condition that all pens in the existing yard be upgraded.
“If you would have to retrofit all your pens, you would have to tear out all your pens and start again,” Cobban said.
The favourable decision came sooner than he expected.
“We’re hoping this has paved the way for the next people so they won’t face such an onerous task.”
He is also pleased the approval came from the NRCB rather than from the County of Mountainview.
“Through the county system, the appeals just don’t stop,” he said.
Elite Swine engineer Rich Smith said his company also preferred applying to the NRCB.
Construction has started on a 3,000 sow farrow-to-wean operation southeast of Lomond in the County of Vulcan.
The company first applied to the county for a building permit in November 2001. It was approved and then appealed, so Elite withdrew the application and submitted it again when the NRCB took over.
Approval to build was received this past January. While the procedure took longer than expected, Smith said the company is pleased with the final result.
“In fairness to the NRCB, some of the delays were beyond their control.”
Some delays were connected to a water licence application.
Under the new rules, no approval is granted until Alberta Environment agrees to grant a licence to withdraw water. Before, construction could start and the operators could apply for a licence later.
“Water is a sensitive issue and it will only become more important,” Smith said.
“The biggest challenge we face in developing livestock operations is the water supplies.”
