Please submit your public comment with your environmental concerns about the proposed Costco industrial chicken factory being considered in Fremont on the form below, and Bold Nebraska will deliver it to the Army Corps of Engineers.
We’re urging the Army Corps to conduct a full Environmental Impact Statement for the project.
(View sample comment language below the form for tips on composing your comment.)
COSTCO CHICKEN FACTORY ISSUES
As a concerned citizen of eastern Nebraska, I am respectfully requesting you to initiate an Environmental Impact Study on the land on the southern boundary of Fremont where the proposed Lincoln Premium Poultry chicken processing complex will be built.
This massive complex includes not only the processing plant, but also a hatchery, feed mill, and three wastewater lagoons. My concerns include, but are not limited to, the following:
FLOODING
The land in question is in a floodplain and is approximately ½ mile from the main channel of the Platte River. This area frequently floods due to heavy rain events in the summers and ice jams that create flooding in the winters. Flood waters could make the soil supporting the processing facility extremely unstable and contaminate it with a variety of water-borne diseases.
ENDANGERED SPECIES
There are a number of endangered species living in or near this land. These species include the federally endangered pallid sturgeon and least tern; the federally threatened piping plover and northern long-eared bat, which are protected under the federal Endangered Species Act. There is also at least one bald eagle nest downstream from the Highway 77 Bridge. Bald Eagles are protected under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. This area is also a Midwest Flyway of approximately two million migrating birds, which are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. All of these species would be affected by runoff of manure and road sediment into the Platte River. The manure causes excess nutrients to grow, creating algae blooms that deplete shallow waters of oxygen in the summers, which can kill fish and plant life (Source: Fish and Wildlife Service).
WATER POLLUTION
Fremont itself historically has had some of the purest and best tasting water in the nation. This could change because the plant will be located within a mile of Fremont’s well field. Potentially hazardous wastewater discharge high in nitrogen, phosphorus, suspended solids, fecal coliforms and pathogenic bacteria affect the water. Manure can also contain salmonella, campylobacter, and E. coli. Also, the nutrient runoff that causes algae blooms poses risks for people who swim in affected waterways or eat fish and shellfish from those waterways. These risks are linked to neurological impairments, liver damage, gastrointestinal illness, and severe dermatitis. Airborne & water based pathogens from the processing plant can expose workers and the surrounding community to possibly antibiotic-resistant strains of Enterococci and Staphylococci. Runoff also creates soil pollution; manure can contaminate ground and surface waters with nitrates and drug residues. Exposure can cause cancer, birth defects, thyroid problems, blood disorders, neurological impairments, and liver damage (Source: Johns Hopkins). Runoff into Platte River, a major tributary of the Missouri River, will flow south to other metropolitan areas such as Valley, Waterloo, Omaha, Bellevue, Plattsmouth, and Lincoln, thereby affecting their water supplies too.
If this processing plant is built, it will be a life changing event for ALL Nebraskans because if one processing plant is allowed to come, many more will follow, which will destroy Nebraska’s clean water, its soil, and many of its endangered species.
Please request an Environmental Impact Study of this area located on the southern boundary of Fremont.
