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Supervisors Address Fertilizer Plant Concerns

The Lee County Board of Supervisors spent about 90 minutes, Monday night, trying to address concerns about Iowa Fertilizer Company’s proposed plant near Wever.

The success of the panel depends on to whom you talk.

The supervisors spent the first 30 minutes addressing questions submitted about two weeks ago by a group of residents.

Supervisor Gary Folluo says the board did the best it could to provide solid answers.

He says there were some questions, though, that the board simply could not answer because the answers lie with Iowa Fertilizer Company.

No one in the meeting identified themselves as being directly associated with the company.

There were representatives of the Lee County Economic Development Group and the Southeast Iowa Regional Planning Commission on hand to answer questions.

And they were all needed as the rest of the time was devoted to questions and/or comments from the roughly 120 people attending the meeting at the Grace Bible Church in Wever.

More than 20 people took advantage and quizzed the supervisors on a wide range of topics including zoning, pollution, emergency response, water usage, and farmland.

Kristen Brookhiser of Wever was one of the residents who requested the meeting.  She says she was not satisfied with the results.

Brookhiser says she will continue to look for answers to her questions.  Others said, away from the microphone, that they would look into moving to avoid the plant.

The supervisors took no action after the meeting nor did they indicate that another meeting would be held about the $1.4-billion fertilizer plant.

Jason Parrott is a former reporter at Tri States Public Radio.