CHARLES CITY - Floyd County won't protest a decision by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources allowing Wesley Ltd. to build a hog confinement facility in Cedar Township.

County Supervisor Warren Dunkel said officials will also take a pass on a hearing before the Environment Protection Commission.

"We decided it was a waste of natural resources to drive a vehicle down to Des Moines," he said. The commission in August denied a permit granted by the DNR for a similar livestock operation in Dallas County. However, last month members agreed to allow the hog confinement - with some modifications - after the producer filed a lawsuit.

"In other words, the Environmental Protection Commission caved," Dunkel said. The facility in Cedar Township is designed for 2,490 hogs.

Floyd County supervisors Arlin Enabnit and Leo Staudt on Monday voted no on appealing the DNR's decision.

Though he believes the effort would probably prove futile, Dunkel voted yes because he said he wanted to at least register a protest via a letter. He said he still plans to send an informational letter to the commission but as a private citizen, not as a member of the board of supervisors.

Supervisors rejected Wesley's permit application in October though it met standards set in the state's matrix scoring system, which officials use to rate proposed livestock confinement operations. Members of the public also filed 18 comments - all negative - about the plan with the county.

Supervisors recently received a letter from the DNR stating the agency had reached a preliminary determination that the application satisfied legal requirements.

The Wesley permit was the third hog confinement permit the supervisors have rejected in recent months. However, the Environment Protection Commission earlier this year overruled Floyd County's denial for another confinement project by Knapp Finishers.

The commission sided with the county, however, in rejecting a permit application from Christensen Farms.

The three requests were for hog operations in Cedar Township in the northeast corner of Floyd County. Supervisors expressed concern about the concentration in that area, and Dunkel noted the township has 14 hog confinements.

Contact Mary Pieper

at mary.pieper@globegazette.com.