Blackshirt Feeders pulls NRD variance request

The Upper Republican Natural Resource District had expected to discuss a variance request by Blackshirt Feeders at its March 1 meeting, but Blackshirt Feeders has asked the request be removed from the board’s agenda. The URNRD variance committee had planned to bring a list of stipulations to attach to the request for the entire board to act on.
Blackshirt Feeders was applying to retire two wells north of Benkelman and transfer that water to 425-non-irrigated cropland acres south of the site of its proposed 100,000-head feedlot.
In an email Feb. 11, Blackshirt Feeders’ co-owner Eric Behlke said a lot of subsequent decisions will be based on the outcome of some of the current pending decisions by the URNRD board.
“Therefore, we don’t want to risk misleading anyone and can only provide answers based on what we know at this time,” Behlke said.
Behlke said Blackshirt Feeders is committed to following the NRD’s policies and procedures in regard to its water allocation.
That allocation will also need to be acted on by the URNRD board, but was not specifically listed on the board’s agenda for its meeting next week.
The Dundy County Commissioners will hold a public hearing March 16 concerning Blackshirt Feeders’ conditional use permit.