By Jeff Tart

4/21/03
SPRING VALLEY, Minn.-Three years ago, a seven million gallon manure lagoon was almost located near my farm. If my neighbors and I had not had the right to petition for an environmental review, that lagoon would have been built, despite the fact that I live in Fillmore County's Forestville Township. This area is known for its sinkholes and for a type of geology called karst, which makes it easy for contaminants to find their way into the groundwater (which is our drinking water).

I know that the environmental review process saved my community's water resources. So I find it ironic that around Earth Day, a time when we are supposed to focus on protecting our water, air and land, the Minnesota Legislature is taking action to eliminate important environmental rights. Senate File 1281 (Sen. Dallas Sams) and House File 1202 (Rep. Dennis Ozment) effectively remove the right of citizens to petition for environmental review of feedlots.

If this law had been in place three years ago, my neighbors and I would not have had the right to petition for environmental review. Because we had that right, there was an environmental review and through that review the Minnesota Department of Health, the DNR and the state's leading expert on karst geology at the University of Minnesota all examined the project, and they all concluded that the lagoon could fail and dump seven million gallons of manure into our drinking water and Forestville Creek, one of the state's leading trout streams.

The forty-two rural residents and farmers who signed the petition didn't make the decision lightly. I, along with others who signed the petition, raise livestock. But our township is not a good place for a seven million gallon liquid manure lagoon. We filed our petition because our concerns were ignored by our county and the MPCA as large agribusiness interests pressured officials to permit the project for the benefit of a select few. The petition process was the only way we had to get our concerns addressed. Current law already balances the interests of livestock farmers against the environment by exempting most feedlots (feedlots less than 300 animal units) from environmental review. The current exemption amounts to 98% of dairy farms, over 95% of beef cow operations and 75% of hog operations. But the proponents of corporate agriculture want to more than triple the exemption level to 1,000 animal units. This is unreasonable and if allowed to happen will harm our environment.

Proponents of factory farms should not be allowed to take away the democratic right of citizens to petition for environmental review of large feedlots. Call your state Senators and state Representatives in St. Paul. (For the name and number of your state Senator call 888-234-1112, or 651-296-0504 in the metro area. For the name and number of your state Representative, call 800-657-3550, or 651-296-2146 in the metro area). Let them know that the current environmental review law is working and that SF 1281 and HF 1202 take away rights we need to protect our environment.

Jeff Tart is a Fillmore County beef farmer and a member of the Land Stewardship Project.