WHAT IS THE MADISON FOOD PARK?
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At 3018 acres (larger than Malmstrom Air Force Base) the proposed multi-species slaughterhouse and rendering facility just east of Great Falls (approximately two miles from the Foothills subdivision and the Base) would be the largest in the country.
This industrial-scale complex is projected to consume at least one billion gallons of water a year from the underlying Madison Aquifer (equivalent to the approximate annual use of all residents in the city of Butte) while producing approximately 300 million pounds of solid waste. The facility would process approximately 500,000 head of cattle, 3 million hogs, and 30 million chickens per year while employing +/- 3,000 overwhelming low-wage workers. On June 13, 2017, shortly after project proponent Ed Friesen of Canada-based Friesen Foods visited, the Cascade County Commission approved changes to land use zoning to allow agricultural special use permits for rendering plants, huge animal feed lots, and industrial scale, multi-species meat processing plants. In August of 2017 Ed Friesen filed for a special use permit for the project under Madison Food Park LLC. A November 9, 2017 Zoning Board of Adjustment hearing was initially set; however, since then and in the face of widespread citizen opposition, the project application has been pulled for “amendment” and postponed indefinitely. While the slaughterhouse facility itself lingers in the shadows, Ed Friesen has pushed for approval of two separate businesses on the same property: a liquor distillery and a cheese plant. |
WHAT IS AT STAKE?
Similar facilities around the nation wreak havoc in their host communities. Health and environmental impacts and disasters are well documented. Eight of the 20 largest polluters in the US are animal processing plants. The risks to wells, water quality, air, and wildlife are significant. They inflict further health and environmental damage and change the very nature of host communities forever.
ECOLOGICAL |
Industrial-scale slaughterhouses, and the feedlots that supply them, produce noxious, potent gases, overload waterways with dangerous pollutants, and create enormous volumes of solid and liquid wastes with varying toxicological and harmful effects. Sometimes we can clearly see (or smell) the pollution and its source, such as wastewater causing green algal blooms and fish kills in a waterway; other times the pollutant may be indirect, like noxious gases, that can degrade air quality and harm down-wind communities.
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ECONOMICAL |
Housing shortages, overcrowded and burdened school systems, increases in crime, decreased property values, medical service shortfalls, traffic and road infrastructure deterioration are only some of the problems experienced in “slaughterhouse towns” across the nation.
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HUMAN |
The livelihoods and health of families and businesses who live in direct proximity are at risk. Industrial-scale slaughterhouses damage community reputations, degrade perceived quality of life, and stymie
community growth. Studies documenting the association between marginalized communities and industrial-scale slaughterhouses show increased public health risks from exposure to viruses, bacteria and wastes. Industrial agriculture large-scale feedlots and CAFOs that eventually follow in areas surrounding these facilities exacerbate problems. They inflict further health and environmental damage and change the very nature of host communities forever. Below is a growing collection of studies and articles exploring the damage this industry inflicts upon the communities unfortunate enough to endure its presence. |
The RESOURCES page is a growing collection of studies and articles exploring the damage this industry inflicts upon the communities unfortunate enough to endure its presence.