Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement members are asking the State Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Commission to strengthen master matrix rules that govern confined animal feeding operations. ICCI organizer Jess Mazour says they want the master matrix to work properly and have a tougher point system that CAFOs have to meet in order to be permitted.

Worth County ICCI member Edith Haenel says they’ve been battling 7 CAFOs that recently have popped up in their area.

Haenel says she has a medical condition where the effects of larger livestock operations impact her health.

She says the Iowa Master Matrix rules are twenty years old and need to be updated.