ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is postponing a decision on a proposed swine facility in Fillmore County.

The Agency says it needs more time before deciding whether to order an Environmental Impact Statement on Catalpa Ag’s plan for a 4,890-head farrowing operating about 10 miles east of Harmony in Newburg Township. The Agency says it wants to evaluate additional testing recently done at the project site and needs to process 771 comment letters received on the subject, a record number.

A public meeting is being planned to share results of that additional testing.

A decision on the need for an Environmental Impact Statement must be made by December 31, 2018.

State officials say the proposed hog facility would include two barns, an animal composting building, a stormwater basin, and a livestock watering well. It’s projected to generate 7.3 million gallons of liquid manure a year, which would be stored in reinforced concrete pits under the barns.