A quick update and reflection on the Madison Food Park from Protect the Falls As 2020 slowly recedes into memory and 2021 kicks off - with big changes at the national, state,
and local levels - the Protect the Falls Coalition wants to share a quick status update on the Madison Food Park Slaughterhouse and reflect on where this issue has been, and what remains in the future. Let’s first recall the issue at-hand. The Madison Food Park slaughterhouse (MFP), first proposed in 2017 as a new “local” business that would allegedly bring new jobs and wealth to Cascade County and Great Falls, has remained a simmering pot of toxic social, environmental, public health, and economic threats to the health and well-being of north-central Montana. The MFP would be over 3,000 acres in size and industrial-scale in its impacts, less than a dozen miles and upstream from Great Falls, generating hundreds of thousands of gallons and thousands of pounds of hazardous liquid and solid waste per day, and consuming approximately 3.5 million gallons of groundwater per day. To be clear, based on facts presented in its 2017 Special Use Permit application to Cascade County, the MFP would constitute the single largest multi-species slaughterhouse in the American West. So too does the MFP slaughterhouse present the high likelihood for increased development of industrial-scale animal feedlot operations in Montana. AKA “Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations,” these huge feedlots have been documented across the nation as creating serious human health and environmental pollution problems, issues that Great Falls and Montana certainly don’t need. The likely rise of CAFOs together with the MFP slaughterhouse paint a tragic picture of industrial-scale agriculture competing with, and probably displacing, Montana’s traditional small-scale grower and family-farmer model and a slow but sure decline in environmental, social, and economic well-being across north-central Montana. It’s important to note now, in January 2021, that the MFP slaughterhouse is not a done-deal, and in fact does not have legal permission to begin construction or operate. The first step in the process for the MFP to actually be built and operate is obtaining a special-use permit (SUP) from Cascade County: you might recall the turbulent and widespread public opposition to the MFP’s initial SUP application in 2017 and 2018. Notably, the MFP’s proponent – Mr. Friesen, a Canadian businessman – voluntarily withdrew the SUP application over two years ago and, since then the application has lapsed, meaning there is no local legal basis or authorization for the MFP slaughterhouse at this time and a new SUP is needed if the MFP is to try to move forward. Citizens should also be aware that any SUP application would require a robust public participation process and thorough vetting at the County level, and so too require several different pollution and water use permits at the state level, all of which also require public participation and high legal standards of care. Sadly, as many know, the lack of a SUP for the slaughterhouse didn’t stop Mr. Friesen and the MFP from switching gears and pushing forward other, allegedly unrelated business ventures on the same property. A cheese-plant and a distillery have both been proposed and, in the case of the cheese-plant, legal battles have been fought over meaningful public and environmental health conditions imposed. After undergoing public hearings with on each of those two entities, the County has reissued a Special Use Permit with conditions for the cheese-plant and has also issued a conditional Special Use Permit for the distillery. Meanwhile, there remains no “new” news on whether Mr. Friesen will again try and push the MFP’s primary slaughterhouse component forward. Because the MFP project threatens so many problems for our community and region the Protect the Falls Coalition continues to work with and support local neighborhood councils in Great Falls in voicing legitimate concerns to local elected officials. Specifically, we supported Great Falls’ neighborhood councils and the Council of Councils in their request to City leaders to study the MFP slaughterhouse before any decision-making. That effort was heard loud and clear by City Commissioners, who agreed the MFP presented more questions than answers, and in response the City of Great Falls passed a unanimous resolution calling on the Governor’s Office to perform an Environmental Impact Study (EIS) of the MFP under our the Montana Environmental Policy Act, all towards providing our decisionmakers with strong science and nonpartisan data on what the MFP slaughterhouse would mean for Great Falls, Cascade County, and north-central Montana. Unfortunately, Gov. Bullock never got the chance to respond to the City of Great Falls’ request with the advent of the CV-19 pandemic. In 2021 the Coalition will work with local leadership to again request new Governor Gianforte task his executive agencies with studying the prospect of a MFP slaughterhouse and what it means for our community, our landscapes, our waterways, and our quality of life, all towards “taking a look before we leap.” So, while there is no “new news” on the MFP slaughterhouse, there is an abundance of facts and data showing the diverse, significant, negative impacts that this project would incite in the larger Great Falls region. Whether enormous environmental degradation to water resources, serious new strain on social services, housing, and road infrastructure, public health concerns related to the dirty trade of industrial slaughterhouse practices, or the likely rise of industrial- scale, polluting feedlot operations to supply the MFP, there remains ample reason for the Protect the Falls Coalition to remain vigilant and committed to ensuring the public knows the truth about the MFP Slaughterhouse. Equally important, the Protect the Falls Coalition remains committed to being a voice for the public interest, bird-dogging the MFP while reminding citizens that the many things Great Falls, much less Cascade County and north-central Montana, honor and value - our outdoors heritage, existing tax base, work force, local businesses, and our traditional agricultural roots – are unnecessarily put at risk should we invite the specter of industrial agriculture into our community and homes. Comments are closed.
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