The proposed CAFO will sit where Indiana’s largest fresh water lake used to be.
Beaver Lake was drained around 1900 by farmers and ranchers – but farmers today still struggle with drainage issues.
A petition has been filed by a Lake Village resident with the office of Environmental Adjudication for administrative review of the permit granted to the diary by IDEM in hopes of stopping the CAFO.
She and other residents are very concerned about water contamination because of the area’s high water table.
“I am concerned about the water quality, as well as the smell that thousands of cows will produce,” said Liz Sonaty, local landowner, Newton County.
“The aquifer was almost obliterated from that one year.
The proposed dairy will use a massive amount of water, putting an enormous strain on an already fragile aquifer.
Clean water is the most precious of our resources, and we need to protect it.” +5 Wildlife enthusiasts join residents in their concern as the proposed CAFO is adjacent to several large natural areas including Willow Slough Fish and Wildlife Area and The Nature Conservancy’s Kankakee Sands- and not far Lake Village Elementary School and North Newton High School.
“It was a sportsman’s paradise – until shortsighted authorities drained the lake to make way for row-cropping.
A CAFO is not worth the risk to our region’s heritage as the ‘Everglades of the North.’ It took decades to restore the area after our ancestors’ decisions.