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MPCA Citizens Board Ignores Concerns of Neighbors
& Refuses EIS on Proposed 1,600 Cow Dairy
Contact: Alice Oden, 507-835-3833 or 651-483-0757; Greg Raetz, 763-278-5905; Karna Peters, 320-634-5175; Bobby King, 507-523-3366
3/29/01
ST. PAUL, Minn. - After hearing over two hours of testimony, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency's Citizens' Board voted March 27 not to order and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)
study on a proposed 1,600 cow dairy with a 25 million gallon capacity lagoon system. The vote was 7 to 1.
The factory style Alliance Dairy, which the proposers want to build in the Waseca area, has been strongly opposed by local farmers and rural residents. More than 40 people traveled by bus to
the Citizen's Board hearing in St.Paul to voice their concerns about the negative impact of the 1,600 cow dairy on water and air quality.
Greg Raetz, a licensed environmental engineer, summarized for the Citizen's Board the science that demonstrates the significant negative environmental impacts the project will cause. Alice Oden
presented the ethical reasons for preparing an EIS, including how the project will negatively affect health and quality of life in her neighborhood.
Dale Oden told the Board about the lack of adequate land for manure spreading. Phil Brase, a local dairy farmer, testified about his decision to use an above-ground manure storage system to protect
water quality despite the additional cost.
Karna Peters, who has been retained as legal counsel by the Waseca County citizens' group, presented the legal necessity for an EIS. Peters testified that an EIS is necessary to address the threats
to groundwater and air quality in the immediate area of the proposed feedlot and that Waseca County has a formula for devaluing neighboring property assessments in the vicinity of large feedlots.
She is with the legal firm Peters and Peters, which has successfully challenged the MPCAs decision not to do an EIS on two other large livestock confinement operations.
Most recently, a Minnesota District Court Judge in December reversed the MPCA Citizens' Board approval of a large dairy and 7.3 million gallon manure lagoon in Fillmore County, and ordered an
EIS. That case was filed against the MPCA by 22 members of the Land Stewardship Project.
The Citizens' Board, however, was unmoved by the March 27 testimony and refused to order an EIS for Alliance. An EIS is an in-depth environmental review that examines the probable environmental
damage a project could cause and proposes alternatives to mitigate that damage. By law, the MPCA is required to perform an EIS if a project demonstrates the potential for significant negative
environmental impacts.
The Citizens' Board's decision was especially controversial in light of the recent manure spill at a large dairy in Wright County, which has a permit that allows it to have 1,150 cows. Neighbors
to that dairy had also requested an EIS but the MPCA refused with assurances that there would be no pollution problems.
"We demonstrated that the Alliance project had the potential to pollute and all we requested was a thorough environmental review before the project moved forward," said Bobby King,
a Land Stewardship Project organizer. "But the MPCA continues to fail in their mission to protect Minnesotas environment. They just dont get it."
The Waseca County citizens' group is considering whether to challenge in court the MPCA's decision on Alliance Dairy.
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