Another milestone has been reached in the ongoing struggle that Roger Whetstine and his son, Jonathan, of Colorado Manure Hauling have experienced to secure a permit to operate a large animal manure composting business.The business requires large quantities of water, and they recently received a well permit from the Colorado Department of Natural Resources groundwater commission for an agricultural well. ìHopefully, we are on the move,î said Roger WhetstineThe Whetstines have been hauling water from a commercial well, and are now looking for a well driller.Colorado Manure Hauling is just barely in El Paso County; the first 10 feet of the property ó on County Road 74-82, which runs between Elbert Road and Peyton Highway ó is in El Paso County. The remainder of the 55-acre site is in Elbert County.The application process for a special use permit has been ongoing for more than a year, according to the October 2020 issue of ìThe New Falcon Herald.î During that time, the Whetstines have operated the business without a special use permit. In Elbert County, once the process of obtaining a permit has been started, the business can continue to operate. If the permit is denied, the business has to cease operations. Last year, the Whetstines had several pre-application meetings with Elbert County officials. Then, in September of last year, as part of the application process, they hosted a community meeting on the property to explain the operation and to answer questions and objections of neighbors.Whetstine said that two of his neighbors objected to the well, but in order to file their objection they were required to pay a fee. No one paid the fee, he said. Therefore, the permit was issued without any objections.Since the Whetstines had to get a permit from the state to drill a well, Elbert County officials opted to wait until the state acted before they took any action toward granting the special use permit.The July 2021 issue of the NFH relayed that at first, the Whetstines applied for a commercial well. Then, the state decided they should apply for an agricultural well instead.The composting process was explained in the October 2020 issue of the NFH. For composting, the manure is piled in long rows and covered with a blue tarp. Each row is uncovered and turned over by a tractor-drawn machine that exposes it to the air and also allows it to be moistened by water sweetened by molasses. The temperature and carbon content of the compost row is checked before and after turning. A logbook and computer are used to keep track of the composting process. Before the process is completed, each row is turned over at least 15 times. Each row requires 3,400 gallons of water.
