Around Christmas, Tom Tucker received a letter from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.

It was basically a letter of intent from Creighton Brothers, notifying adjacent property owners that the agri-business wanted to construct two new egg-laying facilities.

The notification is required by law, and Creighton must secure a confined feeding permit from IDEM.

The letter caused concern among Tucker and his neighbors, and since receiving it they have embarked on a journey through a maze of state agencies that has left Tucker calling IDEM a "bureaucratic boondoggle."

"I would have thought sometime during this whole process that somebody would have taken notice," Tucker said earlier this week.

Apparently, someone has. IDEM this week put Creighton's permit on hold while it investigates Tucker's concerns.

Creighton wants to construct two more chicken houses near its existing operation on the west side of CR 950W, a half mile north of CR 200S.

The chicken houses would be 100 feet wide and 570 feet long and would house up to 240,000 chickens each, according to IDEM documents.

Tucker, concerned about the impact the expansion could have in the area, banded together with other neighbors.

They circulated a petition, which ultimately carried the signatures of 58 residents from an area bordered by CR 100S and CR 200S, CR 900W and Ind. 19.

The petitioners raised concerns about flies, odors and property devaluation.

Armed with the petition and his list of concerns, Tucker headed to IDEM.

But IDEM officials told him they couldn't address concerns about flies, odors or property devaluation.

They suggested Tucker check with the Department of Natural Resources.

He did.

The DNR told him IDEM regulates the permit process.

Tucker talked with the State Board of Health. They also deflected to IDEM. State lawmakers said there was little they could do.

Tucker's next step was to test the soil and water in the area.

He thought if he could show problems with the soil and water in the area, IDEM might reconsider allowing Creighton to build there.

Water samples were taken from William Baker Creek and soil samples were taken from the banks of the creek near the proposed construction site.

The creek runs through the property where Creighton's proposed expansion is planned, and Creighton land-applies manure from its egg-laying and hog operations in the area.

The samples were tested by A&L Great Lakes Laboratories of Fort Wayne.

Results showed "very high" levels of nitrates and phosphates, Tucker said.

Next, Tucker called a meeting with Sam St. Clair, district conservationist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and Steve Schaefer, from the regional IDEM office in South Bend.

Both officials agreed that the test numbers were high.

At that meeting, St. Clair told Tucker the Kosciusko County Health Department had been monitoring the creek and noted high levels of e coli bacteria over the past three years.

"There's high numbers of bacteria in that ditch, well above what you'd expect to see," St. Clair said. "It's very difficult to pinpoint where pollution is coming from, but it's coming from somewhere."

None of this was a surprise to Tucker, who said that the creek has changed over the past six or seven years. "It used to be full of frogs, snakes, crayfish. ... Now it's just dead," he said.

Tucker again approached IDEM.

This time he was told IDEM was in the midst of the permit process and that the permit would likely be approved.

Kirsten Felts is an environmental scientist with IDEM. She also is the permit manager for the Creighton project.

"We're sitting on it," she said of the permit application. "We have all the information, but we're waiting to see if there are other public comments. The citizens up there are asking for time to get some things together."

Despite the delay, Felts conceded there was a good chance Creighton's permit will be approved.

"Their major concerns are smell, bad local fly populations and property devaluation," she said, adding that those concerns are not part of IDEM's review process. "Counties have jurisdiction. The commissioners have control over that. Under our regulations, there is little they could show us" to cause the permit to be denied, she said. "Nothing they have is part of our review."

Nonetheless, Tucker's efforts seem to have raised some eyebrows at IDEM. On Thursday, IDEM spokesman Russ Grunden said IDEM will be taking water and soil samples in the area.

"We have received reports of contaminants in a stream," he said. "That's something we pay close attention to. We have to be as sure as we can be that there won't be a serious threat of ground or water contamination" from Creighton's proposal.

Grunden said that is why IDEM requires a manure management plan from businesses that apply for confined feeding permits.

"We will take our own samples and, if indeed there is a problem we will try to determine the source. Then we'll work with the source to halt any pollution," he said.

If Creighton's permit is issued, adjacent property owners will be notified by IDEM and given instructions on how to appeal, Felts said. Property owners then have 18 days to appeal the decision in the Office of Environmental Adjudication where the case is heard by a judge.

"We've done the fact finding. We've done what's right and I don't see how any objective system can complain about us gathering facts.

Tucker said he and his neighbors are not out to hurt Creighton.

"We're not against Creighton Brothers or the expansion of their business," he said. "We're doing this because we have a concern for our neighborhood and because they have, we feel, many other options because of the vast acreage they own. All we are doing is trying to get them to relocate this expansion." [[In-content Ad]]