Editor's note: This story is being reprinted online and in print because an incomplete version ran over the weekend.
SILVER LAKE - The town of Silver Lake held a special meeting Friday evening to discuss response plans against the concentrated animal feeding operation proposed to be built just outside town limits.
Town Council President Linda Baker told the three townspeople who attended the hour-long meeting that the town will appeal any permits granted to build a feeding operation. A CAFO is proposed one mile north of Silver Lake along Ind. 15, near several homes and deep-rooted businesses.
An anonymous $5,000 donation was made to fund a legal battle in appeal of a permit issued to a CAFO. No permits have been granted yet by the state.
The board insisted to those gathered that the town is not against farmers; it has a vested interest in keeping its residents and businesses in the town and its lakes and streams clean, and the chemicals and odors that come with large CAFO farms would negatively impact them, according to the board.
The board also restated that Silver Lake’s only opportunity for growth lies in the north, and if a CAFO is placed there, it would be detrimental to such development.
“We want to keep this a great community to live and work in,” said Baker.
“We want to make it clear, we don’t want anybody to get the wrong idea as far as the town’s stance: we encourage business. We’re not against the farmer, but we’re definitely against the location because of the impact it will have.”
As is Cliff Zehr, president of Kerlin Bus Sales, which sits along Ind. 15 north of town – a quarter mile from where a proposed CAFO would be built. Zehr told the board that if the CAFO is built on the land 1,500 feet from his business, as its planned, he could be forced to leave the town Kerlin has called home for some 50 years.
“The issue is, it’s affecting my business,” said Zehr. “If I have to move, you’re going to lose 25-30 jobs in this county.”
Zehr, who said he is not against CAFOs but does not want to see one next door to him, said the fumes from CAFOs infect his busses, and cleaning one is $500. He said he should not be forced to move his international business to avoid a stench.
“We were here first,” said Zehr.
A petition is still circulating around Silver Lake, calling for residential support in keeping the CAFO away from the town.
Baker said the Indiana Department of Environmental Management has told the town, though, that “it didn’t matter if we had 2,000 signatures,” the chances of it thwarting a permit to be granted to a CAFO would likely be unsuccessful as long as the operation has its ducks in a row. Blocking an operation coming into the town’s proximity would best lie in the courts during an appeal of a permit on behalf of the townspeople and the town as a whole, Baker said.
That will be funded by the $5,000 donation. Baker would not reveal the name of the donor. She said the town would not front any funds.
