Economic development in eastern South Dakota can be explained in a word: udders.

The initiative to lure European dairy companies via cheap government loans started with former GOP Governor Mike Rounds. Since 2012, Governor Dennis Daugaard, also a Republican, has continued the practice, but with a twist. He’s been courting California milk producers, enticing them to relocate along the I-29 corridor with subsidies and user-friendly regulations. Numbers prove the strategy is working. South Dakota farmers sell almost $400 million worth of milk per year. But the stats also show it’s largely been factory dairies heeding the call. In 2005, the state’s average dairy farm had 250 cows. Today, it’s closer to 1,500 head. Michael Crinion proposed building a 4,000-head dairy. The Environmental Protection Agency says that many cows pump out as much excrement as 500,000 people per year. The project would include three manure pits, each holding 2.2 million cubic feet of excrement. Since the holding ponds wouldn’t be able to handle all the waste, Crinion said the dairy would ink agreements with farmers to the west, where manure would be pumped on fields as fertilizer.Crinion could not be reached for comment.From there, the townspeople looked at the topography. From the high ground where the dairy would be, the terrain bends and slopes west. Locals call it “billy goat territory.” The land’s final descent occurs at Oak Lake, a sparsely populated body inside South Dakota.People knew Oak Lake’s tributaries fed Lake Hendricks. That meant any breach of the manure pits would eventually end up in the lake.Jonathan Lengkeek, owner of a restaurant and a bakery in downtown Hendricks, says the lake’s import cannot be overstated. He points to the boaters, swimmers, and fishermen largely responsible for making a vital downtown.“All our storefronts are full,” he says. “Most little towns wouldn’t be able to support so many healthy businesses.”Lengkeek is worried the dairy could wreak havoc on the lake’s water quality. But he’s more fearful of the stink of dung carried by a steady breeze. That could be a bigger quality-of-life violation, he says.