Sioux Falls, South Dakota — The Friends of the Big Sioux River is a nonprofit organization dedicated to restoring rivers and improving water quality.
Formed 10 years ago and with roots in the Sierra Club of South Dakota, the group focuses on advocacy and education on issues related to the conservation of the Big Sioux Watershed.
The Sierra Club of South Dakota supports an initiative to ban new slaughterhouses within the city limits in a November 8 vote, but Friends of the Big Sioux are particularly neutral.
Also of note, the group’s treasurer, Rachel Close, is an engineer working on the design of Wholestone Farm, a pork processing plant in northeast Sioux Falls.
That apparent conflict of interest did not affect the group’s decision regarding neutrality, said managing director Travis Entenmann. He said the board, which has 12 members of his own, declined to vote on whether to support the initiative.
Kroos provided the board with information on the technology related to the plant, particularly her areas of expertise: water use, wastewater treatment and wastewater discharge.
Contribution / Friends of the Big Sioux River
“She was an educational resource for us, but she never wavered from our view of this particular project,” said Entenmann.
Kloos is the water and wastewater group leader at ISG, the engineering firm in Sioux Falls that is designing the plant.
Entemann said it was important to separate the vote on the initiative from Friends of the Big Sio’s ongoing advocacy for the river.
Large industrial installations along the river are cause for concern. Entenmann said the state will monitor the process, including when to issue release permits to return treated water to rivers. But so far, he said, Wholestone is doing its job and following the rules.
“They’re all saying the right things, but the proof is in the pudding,” he said.
The possibility of another slaughterhouse along the Big Sioux River raises concerns, Entenman said, given the 111-year history of the Smithfield Foods plant near Falls Park. But so is the continued demand for water supplies from the expanding Sioux Falls metropolitan area and the greater threat of pollution coming down the river from upstream. Most of the rivers within the city limits are upstream from Smithfield and the Wholestone Site.
Entenmann said one reason for staying neutral on the poll question is that it doesn’t really address the larger issue of the long-term health of the watershed.
“Moving out of town doesn’t do any good for water quality unless you’re moving from the entire basin,” he said.
Wholestone board chairman Luke Minion said it makes sense for the Big Sioux Friends to be neutral on the issue.
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“If they don’t think it’s properly regulated by the state and (Environmental Protection Agency), they won’t be neutral,” he said.
In contrast to the Friends of the Big Sioux, the Sierra Club of South Dakota was one of the original supporters of Smart Growth’s opposition to the Wholestone plant.
Guy Larson, co-chair of the club’s South Dakota chapter, said he was concerned about what the Big Sioux River contained, how much water it was, and the temperature, and the continued stress from drainage.
All of these factors can affect the health of river-dependent ecosystems of plants, fish and waterfowl, he said.
“No. 1 I want voters to speak up on this issue,” Larson said. “And second, we want to increase our scrutiny of the environment for things like this.”
Entenmann said Friends of the Big Sue will continue to monitor the permitting process and comment accordingly on when it occurs.
Based on pending elections and potential legal action, the plant’s future is in question.
Growing Smarter Sioux Falls submitted the necessary signatures to put the issue to a vote in July.
Wholestone began construction this summer on a custom butcher shop that they claim meets the definition of a slaughterhouse. can do.
What constitutes and does not constitute a slaughterhouse is likely to be the focus of ongoing court proceedings after the election. rice field. A judge ruled Wednesday, Oct. 19, that legal matters are best left to a full trial that takes place after the election.
