Despite fierce opposition from officials and residents of a southern Alberta, Canada community, Taiwan Sugar Corp (TaiSugar,
Last Monday, county officials rejected TaiSugar's proposal to set up a hog farm. Clarence Froese, an agrologist with DGH Engineering -- the Manitoba-based firm representing TaiSugar -- said the company had not yet decided whether it will appeal.
TaiSugar has 14 days to make a decision, which is expected early this week.
But county residents say the company's choice should be clear, and that "the Taiwan conglomerate should go home."
According to Lisa Bechthold, spokesperson for the County of Forty Mile Residents for Public Health and Environmental Responsibility, TaiSugar should keep its word and withdraw the proposed hog farm as it promised earlier.
"Taiwan Sugar reps distinctly told the people of the area that if [residents] didn't want the hog factory, then they would withdraw the proposal," Bechthold said, speaking to the Taipei Times by telephone.
"The planning commission unanimously turned down the proposal on July 11. If Taiwan Sugar's word is good they will abandon the project."
Bechthold said local residents would continue to oppose TaiSugar's proposal in the event it appeals the county's decision.
"We will do everything in our power to protect our county from air, water and land pollution," she said, asking the Taiwan firm to "please build your hog factory somewhere else."
In addition to being turned down by a four-member county planning commission, roughly 700 residents in a community of 1,100 adults signed a petition stating their opposition to the farm.
In denying TaiSugar's proposal, county officials cited the project's anticipated impact on adjoining properties; the potential for surface and groundwater contamination; and the likely excessive stench that the 320-hectare, 14-barn project would bring.
Dogged by environmental concerns over similar proposed projects in Taiwan, TaiSugar in 1997 began researching possible locations in Canada.
TaiSugar was reportedly drawn to Forty Mile County by lucrative tax incentives offered by Foremost, a local township.
The farm, which would breed and fatten up to 150,000 hogs annually for slaughter, would have made the facility one of Alberta's largest hog operations.
But local farmers have opposed the idea, saying that while TaiSugar's proposal meets technical specifications required by the government's code governing farming practices, it doesn't do enough to address environmental concerns.
Of specific concern was the disposal of manure, which TaiSugar officials said they would address by applying it to surrounding land as fertilizer.
That idea raised fears of contaminated water run-off which could then wind up in local rivers and drinking water supplies.
Just six weeks ago, seven people died and hundreds were hospitalized from E. coli bacteria outbreak in Walkerton, Ontario -- allegedly caused by run-off from a cattle farm in the area.
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