Last modified: Friday, May 5, 2006 1:07 PM PDT Interest builds regarding Nyssa feed lot expansion Larry Meyer Argus Observer NYSSA The public will soon gain an opportunity to weigh in on a proposed cattle feed lot expansion project west of Nyssa. The project has already ignited considerable interest from around the region. Ron Jones, livestock water quality specialist with the Oregon Department of Agriculture, said the feedlot is the project of Henry Mautz, Star. Mautz bought an existing feeding facility along Kimberly Drive, and Jones said the plan is to put a new facility on the opposite side of the Owyhee Project's Main North Canal from Kimberly, out on the desert. “He (Mautz) wants to expand into a larger feedlot,” Jones said. Under the current permit, the existing feedlot can handle up to 1,000 head of cattle, he said. The expanded feedlot would handle up to about 12,000 cattle. “It will be an all brand- new facility, if we get all the permits done,” he said. Jones said he hopes to have a public hearing on the expansion within the next 30 days, and said he already has a pretty extensive list of interested parties, from local city and county officials, neighbors and environmental groups. “We have everything (paperwork, design and engineering) together now,” Jones said. “He is just waiting to start construction.” Jones said Mautz has done cleanup work at the site and could start working on some shop or office buildings, but could not work on the feedlot itself until the permits were issued. “I have all of his designs,” Jones said, including plans for dust control and his intentions for pest management, Jones said. “It should be a really nice operation,” Jones said, commenting that, if approved, the feedlot could be one of the best, environmentally in the region. Opposition to feedlots across the region is increasing and this one is no exception, he said. “It's starting to be a challenge,” Jones said. Mautz has put a lot of thought into the plan, Jones said. “He is doing everything right,” Jones said.There are five or six feedlot projects pending statewide, he said, with most of them on the east side and two on the back burner. There is one in Baker County and one in Harney County, which are in his territory, but no others in Malheur County. “It's a lengthy process,” Jones said, commenting that the process for the expanded feedlot has been ongoing for about a year. Mark Riskedahl, executive director of the Northwest Environmental Defense Center in Portland, confirmed his organization is on the list of interested parties. Riskedahl said he would have to withhold any comment until he has seen the application to find out what was proposed, which he said would probably be in a few days. He said, however, their concerns about large feedlots were centered on possible impacts on surface and ground water and about air emissions.