Residents urge Marion County to press VA on proposed 307‑acre national cemetery near McLeay over water, traffic and farmland impacts

Dozens of residents from the McLeay area told the Marion County Board of Commissioners on Oct. 29 that a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs proposal to buy 307 acres on Howell Prairie Road for a national cemetery would harm local wells, rural roads, agricultural land and wildlife.

The meeting’s public-comment period opened with Denise Giesemann, who said she learned of the VA’s scoping notice on Oct. 16 and reviewed the federal National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process. “The VA is preparing an environmental assessment to assess the potential environmental impacts of the proposed action,” she said, and urged neighbors to submit comments during the EA’s public-scoping and the draft‑EA comment windows so the agency can revise a draft if new information arises.

Residents who followed Giesemann described similar concerns. Mark Krautman and Dan Herman said groundwater is already limited in the proposed site area and nearby wells have been deepened or…