LIMESTONE — Opponents of a proposed hog farm have hired a Bangor attorney to help them fight the establishment of the massive feeding operation planned for the Murphy Road.

In addition, a petition is being circulated around town that asks the Limestone Planning Board to reopen a public hearing held late last month on the proposal.

Terry Atwood, a Limestone resident and a leading hog farm opponent, said Friday that he plans to present the petition to the planning board when it meets Monday, Feb. 9.

Attorney Roger Huber of Bangor has been retained to help oppose the plan of Gilles M. Michaud, who lives in Caswell and owns farmland in Limestone.

Michaud has applied to the planning board for a permit to build a $450,000 structure for a “confined hogs feeding operation.” According to Limestone officials, the operation would initially raise about 1,000 animals at a time.

It is the latest in a series of attempts to start a large hog-feeding operation in Aroostook County. There have been attempts by a Quebec-based firm to start a hog farm near Cross Lake and in New Sweden.

Although the farm would be within Limestone’s borders, some residents of neighboring communities who live near the proposed site are concerned about the effects that such a farm would have on their property.

Huber met with the group of opponents Tuesday in Caribou.

“Right now, we are looking at the building permit application,” Huber said Thursday.

The attorney also plans to monitor state legislation regarding this type of operation.

Huber hopes that a decision can be postponed until legislation is approved that would govern this type of activity. The hog-feeding operation is “a new creature for Maine, certainly,” Huber said.

During the Feb. 9 planning board meeting, the panel will discuss the legislation proposing waste management regulations for large feeding operations. There is no mention of the Michaud hog farm on the agenda. Limestone Town Manager Paul Beaulieu said the application may not considered until March.

Efforts to reach Michaud on Friday were unsuccessful.

Brian Carlton, a retired game warden living in Caribou, would be a neighbor of the farm and is worried about the farm’s establishment.

“We’re just trying to find out what these things are and why nobody else wants them,” Carlton said.

In addition, the group is doing research on hog farming in North Carolina and Oklahoma, where the opponents claim the industry has harmed the environment.

“We’re trying to get people educated [on hog farms],” said Doris Cushman of Caribou, also part of the group.

The president of the Caribou Development Corp., Dennis Curley, said that agency is not involved in the plan.

“The CDC has never endorsed, encouraged, supported any livestock-feeding operation in any way,” said Curley.

The agency has done some research on the issue and shared it with Limestone officials. “That’s as far as it’s gone,” Curley said.

An early morning CDC meeting is planned for Monday, Feb. 9, to discuss the issue and possibly take a position on it, Curley said.

Although funded with taxpayer dollars, the meetings are not public, because the members discuss the finances and other issues associated with drawing businesses to operate in Caribou.