Last modified: Tuesday, March 13, 2007 12:04 PM PDT OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA State agency holds meeting regarding Weiser feedlot By Jennifer Colton | Argus Observer Weiser - Friday, five representatives from the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality met with nearby residents and the property owners of the former Sunnyside Feedlot to discuss concerns and plans for cleaning up the property. “We walked around the site, had them express what they would like to see accomplished,” Dennis Owsley, environmental hydrogeologist for the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, said. “We also let them know what our plans are for the site in the next few months. I thought it went well. I think the neighbors know that we are concerned, and we are doing everything we can. We left the site on a good note with the neighbors.” DEQ's plans include conducting an environmental assessment of the site to determine the extent of the contamination. Residents claim water contamination from the site has caused health problems ranging from asthma to birth defects and Idaho Department of Agriculture testing found high levels of nitrates, ammonia, antibiotics and estrodiol - a bovine hormone - in multiple areas as well as e.coli in a well adjacent to the property in May 2004. “The goal of the assessment is to determine the level of cleanup efforts required to clean up the site,” Owsley said. “We're looking at early summer - that's what we're shooting for - as soon as we can get access. The weather has to be dry.” The results of the evaluation will then go to the feedlot owner - in this case The Benedictine Monks of Idaho - for action. “You can assume it is (contaminated), but right now we don't have the data to prove it,” Owsley said. IDEQ representatives said the meeting went well while residents were upset about late notice for the session, where only three feedlot neighbors - Kathy Stone and James and Pearl Wandrey - were able to attend. “They just popped up and said ‘we're going to have a meeting.' There wasn't any time to notify anyone,” James Wandrey said. “They called that morning at 9 (a.m.) and the meeting was supposed to be at 10. Kathy (Stone) called us, and she tried to get a hold of everyone, but at that hour it was just too late.” Wandrey, whose backyard abuts the contaminated property, expressed frustration at the overall cleanup process. “I have really mixed emotions,” he said. “We've been fighting this for five years, but it's just like nothing ever happens. I believe that some of the parties involved are really sincere, but it's set up so they can't really do anything about it. I try to call DEQ at least two times a month. It does no good. They listen to you, they tell you how concerned they are, and then they don't do anything.” One example Wandrey gave was the sprinkler land application of water from the feedlot waste lagoons to a property east of the former feedlot last fall - which he said turned his well water black. “It is just like talking to a wall. It's always another test, another investigation,” he said. “They're kind of ignoring us in a nice way. I just hope all these agencies think about not just the people today but their kids and grandkids.” John Doerr, attorney for The Benedictine Monks of Idaho, said that the land application had been discussed at the meeting. “It went to irrigate some crops growing on that land, which seem to be thriving today,” he said Monday. “The neighbors were complaining about that application of water and there was some discussion about that. “There was a discussion of the various aspects of what's going on. It was a productive meeting and it was left at that. The property is for sale and we are in the meantime moving toward cleaning it up and making it more sellable.” Selling a property is next to impossible with the contamination, Wandrey said. For example, Wandrey said that although the property tax value for his eight acres is set at $90,000, he doubted he could sell it for $10,000. “I couldn't even sell it, I don't think, because of the water contamination,” he said. “That leaves a real bad taste in my mouth.” Idaho representatives from the United States Department of Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency did not return phone calls before press time.