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Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Environment - Community fights proposed dairy farm; Mount Rumpke would double under proposed expansion

WNDU-TV, South Bend, has a report headed "Community still fighting proposed dairy farm." It begins:

Lakeville, IN - A proposed dairy farm near Lakeville promises to be a big operation, with 3,500 head of cattle. The developer only needs a state permit to move ahead with the farm and neighbors are not happy.

Permits for agricultural development are granted on a state level, with no say from local government. It is something most people that live near the proposed dairy farm had no idea about, until now.

Dean Carbiner, a St. Joseph farmer says, "When cow numbers get into the thousands for a dairy farm, it's no longer a dairy farm, it's a birth of a new industry enterprise. It's now a milk factory and I feel our laws and ordinances have not been able to keep up."

The Cincinnati Enquirer today has a story headlined: "Mount Rumpke would double: Neighbors protest as firm files for $145M expansion of dump." Some quotes:
Mount Rumpke stands poised to double the size of its footprint.

Expansion of the region's biggest garbage dump could generate millions more in fees for area communities, while ensuring that neighbors on surrounding streets would have a blast - of explosives, that is.

The landfill's increase would cost an estimated $145.5 million and could get under way as soon as 2009.

Officials with Rumpke Consolidated Cos. Inc., owner and operator of the 333-acre Rumpke Sanitary Landfill, filed papers with Colerain Township's Zoning Commission Monday. The papers requested a zoning change to allow for an eastern expansion. The landfill is nicknamed Mount Rumpke because the dump's summit is the highest point in Hamilton County.

With the increase, the size of the base of the man-made mountain of trash would grow by 291 acres. Throw in surrounding buffer zones, planned greenspace, parkland and industrial parks, and the site would end up occupying a total of 866 acres.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on March 8, 2006 08:22 AM
Posted to Environment