Timetable of Events

Monday, September 29, 2008 and
Tuesday, September 30th at 9:00am
.Court dates in Jo Daviess County Courthouse in Galena

Sunday, September 28, 2008
Informational meeting at Lena Community Center at 497 lions Drive in Lena. Please join us to learn how this facility, and the many that will come after it, will destroy the county's family farms, tourism, state parks, air, and water.

Monday, September 8, 2008
The Galena City Council passed a resolution asking for a moratorium on large Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) in Jo Daviess County due to the harm it will cause to the public health, property values, family farmers, tourism, and the environment.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008
The IDOA held another public meeting to get community input on the construction of a Methane Digester on this same site. With two exceptions, everyone who commented on this facility was opposed to the methane digester. HOMES learned that the applicant does NOT have to build this machine even if it is approve, that it is only large enough for the 6,000 or so cows that will be brought in at the start of operations, so another machine will have to be built in another two years when the applicant is allowed to expand, and that it won't stop the ammonia or hydrogen sulfide from contaminating the air. Since it will produce a much more liquid waste product, the applicant will be able to apply this liquid even to growing crops, allowing him to empty his waste ponds more frequently, and therefore to bring even more animals onto the property without having to expand his waste ponds beyond their already massive 42 acres.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008
The lawyers for the IDOA and the applicant cross-examined Mr. Panno, and questioned his findings. By the end of the day, Mr. Panno was able to state that the site was karst, that it met the definition of karst as put forth in the LMFA, and that the soil borings conducted by the engineering firm that designed this facility were, according to karst experts, not an accepted method of determining the presence or absence of karst.

Friday, July 18, 2008
HOMES, the IDOA, and the applicant met in court, and listened to testimony from Samuel Panno, Senior Geochemist at the Illinois State Geological Survey. Mr. Panno testified that the area under the proposed CAFO is comprised of karst bedrock, and any spills or seepages of waste through the soil-lined ponds would contaminate the aquifer, which supplies drinking water for thousands of nearby residents.

June 17, 2008
A.J. Bos was served with the lawsuit by the Jo Daviess County Sheriff. He was staying in a hotel room registered under a different name.

Around June 16, 2008
the applicant started construction on the site, and has continued to build this facility despite the lawsuit.

June 10, 2008
The applicant filed a Notice of Intent to Construct a Methane Digester at this same site. Although such a machine, if properly operated, can remove a portion of the methane emitted by such a facility (although 60% of the odors come from the barns, which a digester does not capture), it still allows the toxic hydrogen sulfide and ammonia to get released into the air.

June 3, 2008
HOMES filed a lawsuit against the IDOA and the applicant contending that this facility violated state law, and threatened the public health.

Friday May 30, 2008
...the IDOA granted the applicant permission to build without following any of the karst guidelines set out in the Livestock Management Facilities Act. This was in direct violation of the state law that gave the IDOA the power to overrule the wishes of the local residents and ignore the vote by the County Board.

February 11, 2008
The Jo Daviess County Board voted 11 to 5 to reject the application for this facility. Their main concerns were the karsified nature of the bedrock which would allow contaminants to reach the aquifer, the odor, and the negative affect this facility would have on the tourism that brings over 200 million dollars to Jo Daviess County every year. This non-binding vote was unfortunately just a smoke screen because.

January 10, 2008
The Illinois Department of Agriculture (IDOA), at the request of the Jo Daviess County Board, conducted a public meeting in Warren. Over 500 people attended, and the meeting ran until after midnight. Most of those in attendance were very much opposed to the CAFO.

November 1, 2007
A.J. Bos, a millionaire investor from Bakersfield, CA, filed a Notice of Intent to Construct Two - 6,850 Animal Units (about 5,600 animals) dairy CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) less than one mile west of Nora, Illinois.

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