When Renville County dairy farmer James Kanne addressed a Minnesota Senate hearing on environmental review Jan. 29, he made it clear that size does matter when it comes to assessing the impact of an agricultural operation on the land and community. “If you have 50 cows in one spot, they have a small impact,” Kanne… Read more »
Posts Tagged: manure
In Historical Move, MPCA Orders EIS on Proposed Factory Farm
By Paul Sobocinski, Land Stewardship Project The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s Citizens’ Board ruled this week that Riverview LLP’s proposed 8,850-cow dairy operation in Stevens County must undergo an in-depth Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). To my knowledge, this is the first time that the MPCA has ordered an EIS of a factory farm. This is… Read more »
Weakening Factory Farm Rules in the Midnight Hour
What’s a sure sign that legislators are not carrying out the wishes of the general public? Answer: when their actions have to be carried out in secret, behind closed doors, in the dark of night. That’s literally what happened Tuesday night-Wednesday morning when the Minnesota Legislature passed the Environment Finance Bill. As part of the… Read more »
The Environmental Review Express
In the Legislature’s rush to “streamline” environmental review with proposals like House File 1, there’s a lot of talk about how such a measure would benefit “constituents” around the state. But one key constituent seems to have been pushed aside by all the feel-good rhetoric about creating jobs: the farmers and other rural residents who… Read more »
CAFO Settlement Tells Us What We Already Knew
It was already good news for our state’s water when the Legislature killed a proposal that would have exempted many of our largest factory farms from getting NPDES permits. But when the EPA announced this week that it was significantly changing its regulatory relationship with factory farms, it became clear not passing House File 2659… Read more »
Pro-Factory Farm Bills Killed
By the time the 2010 session of the Minnesota Legislature convened Monday, proposals that would have weakened environmental standards for factory farms and undermined environmental review on the local level were dead. As a result of work on the part of members of LSP and other organizations, lawmakers got the message that factory farms already… Read more »
A Peek Behind the Curtain
It’s refreshing when people in power pull the curtain aside, drop the feel-good rhetoric momentarily and offer a glimpse at what they are really thinking. It’s also a little frightening. After years of claiming he’s “size neutral” when it comes to agricultural policy, Rep. Al Juhnke (DFL-Willmar) announced during a March 11 House committee hearing… Read more »
Environmental Review’s Latest Threat
It’s as predictable as the spring thaw. The Minnesota Legislature is yet again trying to weaken environmental review of large developments such as factory farms. This time around, the excuse for making the ideas in Senate File 2761 and House File 3079 into law is “greater efficiency.” Watch out. Recommend on Facebook Share on google… Read more »
Thief River’s Yuck Mountain
Now that the MPCA has finally gotten around to taking steps to shut down that horrific health hazard that its owner, Excel, chooses to call a dairy farm, neighbors are left to wonder: what about the millions of gallons of manure left behind? Recommend on Facebook Share on google plus Tweet about it