Doctor with Dakota Resource Council warns controversial dairy operation will impact Fargo

FARGO — The impacts of a highly controversial dairy operation planned for Abercrombie could hit home in Fargo.

The proposed 12,500-head dairy operation is cause for concern for Fargo residents, Dr. Madeline Luke told members of the city’s Sustainability Committee on March 18, because the waste and chemicals from the farm will flow into the Red River and straight into Fargo’s water supply.

“I’m here to give you a heads up on what may be coming,” Luke said.

She spoke on behalf of the Dakota Resource Council’s Agricultural Committee, a group that joined with residents in Abercrombie to petition the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality to repeal the permit for the cattle operation.

The $90 million facility is planned for just south of Abercrombie in Richland County, about 34 miles south of Fargo. The facility would be 1.4 miles from the Wild Rice River and 1.8 miles from the Red River, on top of the Wahpeton Buried Valley Aquifer that supplies nearby communities.

In addition, another controversial new dairy farm farther north in Traill County plans to have 25,000 head of cattle.

“This vastly outnumbers the amount of dairy cattle in the whole state, and these are both projects of Riverview Dairy, which is a company out of Morris, Minnesota,” Luke said.

In those numbers, cattle will send large amounts of pollutants out into the water and air, she said, which can cause negative health impacts on North Dakotans.

Officials with Riverview were not at Tuesday’s meeting, but issued a statement to The Forum on Thursday night:

“The claims being made are not accurate. Our goal is to always be good neighbors, which includes farming in a manner that protects our shared water resources and the environment. Abercrombie Dairy will be designed, built, and operated for the protection of surface waters. All manure will be collected and stored on-site. This manure will then be tilled into the soil on surrounding farmland as an organic fertilizer. Manure application will occur at agronomic rates so that nutrients are used in crop production, which prevents run-off.”

The company also said it has been working with neighbors and other government agencies as the farm is being developed, and that all manure handling and application processes will be regulated.

“We are excited to grow dairy in North Dakota, and we encourage anyone with interest in our farms to contact us,” the statement said.

A retired internal medicine doctor, Luke said the cow manure contains nitrogen and phosphorus and creates a perfect breeding ground for green algae and other disease-causing organisms like E. coli.

The Red River already has more nitrogen than is advisable for community health, she said.

“North Dakota really hasn’t faced this kind of industrial farm operation before so they talk about nutrients and they talk about E. coli, but they don’t really mention things like hormones. All of these cows are making milk and excreting a lot of estrogen,” Luke said. “This is a lot of estrogen that is going into the urine, into the ground, and into your river.”

Anything the farm operators give the cows — vaccinations, disease treatments — can also flow into the water.

In addition, the state will face air pollution from the cattle, she said, with small particulates that cause inflammation of the circulatory system and increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes in people who live nearby.

While the city’s newly updated water treatment plant can filter pollutants out, Luke said, doing so would raise the cost of running the facility and, ultimately, impact Fargo taxpayers.

The amount of wastewater and manure from this farm will be massive, she said, and none of it will be treated as it leaves the farm before joining the river.

On Tuesday, Luke asked the sustainability committee to join the Dakota Resource Council in appealing the permit in court this month.

The committee did not take any action Tuesday.

Chairman and City Commissioner John Strand said Tuesday it was “important to hear from the people” but that the committee had to “wrap up” the meeting.

Neither Mayor Tim Mahoney nor other top city officials in attendance said anything further about the matter.

The sustainability committee only meets four times per year, meaning they would not be able to sign on to the appeal without calling a special meeting.

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