Fischbach said over the next two years $1.2 million will be spent on a generic impact study to answer a lot of the questions raised by the feedlot issue. "I feel positive changes can happen from the impact study," Stang said.
Fischbach added that one important thing is that the Pollution Control Agency (PCA) will get more money in the 1999 budgeting year to hire people to do follow-up checks on permits issued to feedlots. At present, PCA does not have the staffing to check all the permits issued. PCA will also be given more flexibility to say no if they feel the individual applying for a permit won't follow the waste management rules effectively even if they meet the permit requirements.
Stang stressed people need to let the county boards know what is happening in their neighborhoods. Stearns County is taking a good hard look at the feedlot issues and will be holding more public hearings.