State Agency Will Make Critical Ruling on Environmental Review of 2 Steele County Factory Hog Farms June 20
Construction at factory farms continues despite EQB's order to stop

Contact: Jeff Heil, Land Stewardship Project member, 507-390-2043 or
507-455-4115 Jim Peters, attorney, 320-763-8458 or 320-760-1292

6/19/02
ST. PAUL, MINN.—In a highly unusual move, petitions requesting environmental review of two large hog confinement facilities in Steele County's Havana Township will be ruled on by the Minnesota Environmental Quality Board (EQB) at its June 20 meeting, beginning at 9 a.m. in Hearing Room 5 of the State Office Building, 100 Constitution Avenue, St. Paul. The petitions were submitted by 50 farmers and rural residents on March 27. Petitions for environmental review of feedlots are normally handled by either the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency or the appropriate county.

The EQB Chair is Minnesota Commissioner of Agriculture Gene Hugoson. The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA), under Hugoson's direction, has been an active opponent of environmental review of large feedlots, seeing such review as an obstacle to expanding industrial-scale livestock facilities in Minnesota. Members of the MDA staff routinely testify on behalf of the proposers of large animal confinements despite environmental concerns voiced by neighboring family farmers and rural residents.

Each of the proposed hog confinement facilities would house 2,400 hogs. Together they will produce over 1.5 million gallons of liquid manure per year. Currently the projects are under construction despite a May 31, 2002, letter from the EQB instructing that construction be stopped while the need for environmental review is determined. On Friday, June 14, after the EQB indicated it would take no further action to stop construction, neighboring farmers and rural residents were forced to ask the District Court to order the hog factory to comply with the law and stop construction. That case is pending.

The case became complicated when the citizens' petitions for an Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW) were prematurely rejected by the EQB shortly after they were submitted on March 27. The EQB incorrectly ruled that the two feedlots had received all appropriate permits despite petitioners pointing out that the projects still required a Minnesota Department of Natural Resources water appropriations permit. In addition, the proposers used inaccurate calculations in their justifications of why no water appropriation permit was required, according to the EQB. By law, petitions for environmental review must be submitted before final permits are issued. The DNR reaffirmed that the facility failed to obtain a water appropriations permit in a May 28 letter to the EQB. The EQB was forced to then validate the petitions for environmental review and ordered construction halted until the petitions could be ruled on.

"We are talking about adding almost 4,800 hogs to our township and a million and half gallons of liquid manure. This will pollute our water and air and take away value from our property," said Jeff Heil, a member of the Land Stewardship Project and neighbor to the proposed confinement facilities. "We have brought up important concerns in our petition, but the state and county fights us every step of the way."

The concerns outlined in the petition include the potential for surface and ground water pollution from manure application and leakage from the manure storage pit; air pollution from hydrogen sulfide, a deadly gas given off by large hog manure pits; and damage to property values of nearby homes. Close to 30 residents are within a mile radius or the two facilities. A church stands between the proposed factory hog farms.

The EQB is responsible for managing the environmental review process and setting guidelines for other agencies to follow when doing environmental reviews. Over the last three years, Land Stewardship Project members and others have won a series of lawsuits against county governments and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency concerning environmental review. In cases in Pope, Fillmore, Waseca and Lac qui Parle counties, the courts have sided with citizens and ordered environmental reviews on large feedlots, stating in each case that such reviews were inappropriately denied by government agencies.

"The Environmental Quality Board needs to take their name seriously and stand up for environmental quality. They can start by ordering environmental review on these two feedlots," said Heil. "But if the EQB itself can't follow their own rules then we know the process has been completely bought by corporate ag and factory farms. If the vote is against environmental review then it is time for some changes on the EQB."

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