3 Sioux Falls councilors are pushing back against proposed slaughterhouse ban

Three Sioux Falls city councilors are expressing their support for Wholestone Farms’ proposed Sioux Falls plant, as well as their distaste for how the opposition has run its campaign to prohibit new slaughterhouses within city limits.

Councilors Curt Soehl, Alex Jensen and Marshall Selberg said Thursday night they decided fairly recently to speak out and “set the record straight” when it comes to a question on Tuesday's ballot, one centered on Wholestone’s plan to build a $500 million pork processing plant in northeastern Sioux Falls.

That’s despite pending litigation involving the city, Wholestone, Mayor Paul TenHaken and all eight members of the council, which centers on whether the company should have been able to receive permits for a “custom slaughterhouse.”

Selberg says he’s heard from constituents who are confused about the measure and what it would do, and said the group’s opponents had been “a little bit light on maybe the truthful side of things.”

Referencing Smart Growth Sioux Falls, the group that successfully petitioned to get the slaughterhouse ban on next Tuesday's ballot, Selberg said he agreed with part of one of their advertisements.

“One of their ads that I do agree with … if you vote yes, that means less," he said. "And it does mean less. That means 1,000 less jobs, it means $500 million less in economic building. It means millions lost in tax revenue, it means millions lost in the agricultural industry.”

More: Your Sioux Falls ballot guide to the slaughterhouse ban question, Wholestone Farms

Selberg said he believed Sioux Falls’ reputation would be hurt if the ordinance passed, saying that Wholestone would have followed the rules for years, “and then we’re going to pull the rug out from under them at the last second.”

Jensen, the council’s vice-chair, called claims that the plant would strain the city’s water supply “an all-out lie” and said he was confident recent investments in the Lewis and Clark Regional Water System had the city in a good place for the next 30 years.

Robert Peterson, Smart Growth Sioux Falls' treasurer, maintained in a statement that Wholestone's water usage would require additional resources and infrastructure for the city and put future growth at risk.

Smart Growth Sioux Falls has also said Wholestone would have a negative effect on the water quality of the Big Sioux River. Jensen doesn’t agree.

“Water quality is not going to be an issue,” Jensen said. “If it does become an issue, they will be fined by the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture & Natural Resources of South Dakota, just like Smithfield is in their downtown location.”

Council Chair Soehl pointed to the ordinance’s clause that says existing slaughterhouses can expand in their current location as part of his reasoning to vote against the ballot question.

“A yes vote says you want Smithfield to expand in downtown Sioux Falls,” Soehl said. “A no vote means you want a slaughterhouse on the outskirts of Sioux Falls. It's a pretty simple thing. Because if it's yes, the only place that's going to ever expand is in downtown Sioux Falls, which is what people complain about now.”

Soehl also spoke to concerns about odor, saying he’d recently visited a Prestage plant in Eagle Grove, Iowa, he called “the most modern processing plant in the country.”

“It does not stink,” Soehl said. “And I challenge anybody from Smart Growth to say they've been there to look at it firsthand. Or are they just making stuff up? So that's what kind of gets under my skin a little bit when they just make stuff up.”

Peterson noted the city has no specific laws on odor. While an animal processing plant must submit an odor management plan that must be signed by the city's planning and health departments, there are no standards on what those plans must contain.

"My message to Smart Growth [is] there are already state laws and city ordinances dealing with pollution," Soehl said.

More: POET spends $1 million to fight Wholestone pork plant

The councilors also addressed the recently-released campaign finance disclosure reports, which showed that POET, the South Dakota-based ethanol company, had donated more than $1 million to Smart Growth Sioux Falls, which enabled the group to spend $1,120,750 on advertising during the last month.

"We cannot in good conscience stand by and watch as new slaughterhouses jeopardize the quality of life for our team members, our families, and our more than 200,000 neighbors who live and work in this community," POET stated as part of an emailed response Thursday to the Argus Leader about the contribution. "It’s time to let the people decide.

POET was one of more than 50 companies that signed onto an April letter asking the Sioux Falls City Council to "take immediate action and pause the planned construction of a new hog-processing complex within city limits," citing concerns including odor, water quality and affordable housing.

“I think it’s ungodly,” said Soehl, who questioned whether this much had ever been spent on a local ballot issue. “It’s an unhealthy amount of money.”

While it’s not in the seven-digit range, Sioux Falls Open For Business, a committee opposing the ballot measure, has seen sizeable donations as well, spending $322,917.64 on advertising during the last month.

“$1 million dollars-plus by one organization. It’s unheard of,” Jensen said. “It’s unheard of in South Dakota politics.”

Soehl cut in.

“And he made his money on ag. That’s what I can’t get over,” he said.

He doesn’t name him, but the subject is clear: POET CEO Jeff Broin.

“Value-added agriculture, we’ve worked for in this state, in this community since I was a pup we’ve worked for that,” Soehl said. "We have congressmen and senators and governors. That’s what they’ve always searched for. Value-added ag. And now we’ve got one guy who’s done that, and made his millions, and now he’s trying to stop it.”

More:Wholestone's 'custom slaughterhouse' to open to customers next week

Peterson said the group was proud their support "comes from people who actually live and work in Sioux Falls, rather than outside pork groups who bankrolled 90% of the slaughterhouse campaign's final push."

South Dakota Pork donated $175,000 to Sioux Falls Open For Business over the last reporting period, along with $50,000 donations from both the Iowa Pork Producers Association and Minnesota Pork Producers.

Peterson also raised concerns regarding Pipestone Holdings, the parent company of Wholestone Farms, including that former Pipestone board chairman Gordon Spronk pleaded guilty to making false statements on a bank loan in 2002 as investigators looked into fraudulent practices at Global Ventures I, a now-shuttered offshoot of Pipestone.

While Pipestone’s website listed Spronk as the board chairman until recently, and Peterson referred to him as such, Pipestone’s general counsel Sean Simpson says that’s inaccurate.

The board’s current chair, Simpson said, is Luke Minion, who also serves as the board chair of Wholestone. Simpson said Minion took the position as of Jan. 1, 2021.

Peterson also said Pipestone projects in other states had "steamrolled" local residents with concerns about hog breeding facilities.

Selberg said those concerns were "a diversion to avoid discussing the issue at hand," and Soehl said his message to Broin would be "don't throw stones if you live in a glass house."

The three councilors also said they wouldn't address the process of how the city permitted Wholestone's "custom slaughterhouse," with Soehl saying the issue would "play out in court."

More: Wholestone court fight could go to trial after November election

Judge Sandra Hanson said last month the city should not have been providing permits to Wholestone once Smart Growth Sioux Falls' slaughterhouse ban had made it to the ballot.

But as the city had already provided all the relevant permits, Hanson said a mandatory injunction to rescind the permits would require a trial, and determined that the parties should spend their time prior to the election making their respective cases to the voters.

If the ban is voted down, Smart Growth Sioux Falls' case will largely become moot, although lawyers on both sides have said they expect to be back in a courtroom at some point.

Election Day is Tuesday. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Correction: A former version of this story misidentified Pipestone Holdings’ board chairman.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Sioux Falls city councilors push back on proposed slaughterhouse ban