LSP in the News: Activists barred from a meeting on rules for livestock feedlots

Minneapolis Star Tribune

http://www.startribune.com

Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2004

Activists barred from a meeting on rules for livestock feedlots

By Tom Meersman

A panel advising Gov. Tim Pawlenty on feedlot regulation barred citizen activists from attending its meeting Monday to discuss how much authority local governments should have over livestock operations.

Although earlier meetings of the panel had been open to the public, a state Agriculture Department official told members of the Land Stewardship Project and Minnesota COACT that they were not welcome to attend the all-day discussion at the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce office in St. Paul.

Feedlots are a growing concern because the larger operations generate more odor and waste. Yet the patchwork of local rules has led to calls for consistent statewide regulations, a change that many local governments oppose.

After the members left, the panel of legislators, industry officials and others discussed whether to open the meeting and decided that the groups could attend. By then, members had left.

The panel, a subcommittee of the governor's Livestock Advisory Task Force, was holding its final meeting to recommend changes in how feedlots are regulated. Minnesota now allows county and township officials to impose stricter regulations than the state requires.

Representatives of the Land Stewardship Project and COACT showed up Monday for the meeting even though they had been warned it would be closed. They were met by Assistant Agriculture Commissioner Perry Aasness, who told them that the panel is advisory only and was not making policy, and that some of its members wanted the meeting closed.

Aasness, in an interview Tuesday, said he had received assurances from the governor's office that the panel could meet privately if it chose. Because the group has no authority except to make recommendations, it is not subject to the state's Open Meeting Law, he said.

"It was not to hide anything, but several members wanted the ability to discuss this in private and share their recommendations with the governor for his review," Aasness said.

Sandy Ludeman, a hog and cattle producer from Tracy who is cochairman of the panel, acknowledged the confusion and called the situation "an unfortunate incident."

He said the subcommittee does not want to take away local feedlot control, but to educate officials about regulations. Some townships have exceeded planning and zoning authority, in one case by specifying how a dairy must manage manure, Ludeman said.

Mark Anfinson, a Minneapolis attorney who has handled open-meeting issues for the Minnesota Newspaper Association, said state law is "very muddled" on whether advisory bodies must meet in public.

State Sen. John Marty, DFL-Roseville, chairman of the Senate Environment Committee, has asked Agriculture Commissioner Gene Hugoson for an explanation.

Livestock Advisory Task Force: What's next

Livestock operations are controlled by a combination of state pollution rules and local planning and zoning ordinances.

• The Governor's Livestock Advisory Task Force concluded in June that local control of feedlots has produced a patchwork of rules that represent "a significant impediment to the modernization and new investment in Minnesota livestock operations."

• The task force established a separate panel to look at how much authority local officials should have over feedlots. The panel's recommendations now go to the governor. The Legislature also is expected to take up the issue next year.

—Tom Meersman

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