Over the past few years, Bluestem Prairie has been posting about the battle for clean drinking water waged by Winona County citizens and their friends against the expansion of a large dairy beyond county limits.
And there's the more general issue of nitrates in the karst region.
See related posts below, like In amicus brief, five ag groups ask to weigh in on ruling that blocked Daley dairy’s expansion plans and Following emergency petition regarding nitrate contamination in SEMN karst region, EPA sees further action needed to protect public health
On Monday morning. the Minnesota Court of Appeals published an opinion affirming the right of the county to limit the size of the dairy: A23-1953 Daley Farm of Lewiston, L.L.P., et al., Appellants, vs. County of Winona, Respondent, Land Stewardship Project, Respondent, Defenders of Drinking Water, Respondent.
I embed the decision below.
Via a Winona County friend's Facebook page, here's a press release from the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy (MCEA) praising and explaining the decision:
Minnesota Court of Appeals affirms local county’s right to protect drinking water from pollution from large industrial feedlot
St. Paul, Minnesota – The Minnesota Court of Appeals Monday upheld a southeastern Minnesota community’s decision to limit the size of large animal feedlots operating within its borders to protect residents’ drinking water from nitrate pollution caused by manure and fertilizer runoff.The decision is a win for local control as well as the ongoing effort to address the drinking water crisis impacting residents in Minnesota’s sensitive karst and Central Sands regions.
In its opinion, the Court of Appeals affirmed the Winona County Board of Adjustment’s decision to deny a variance request from the area’s largest feedlot - Daley Farm. The farm sought an exemption from the county’s feedlot size restriction ordinance so that it could expand to quadruple the size of any other farm permitted in the County.
If granted, Daley Farm, located in Lewiston, would have created more than 46 million gallons of manure and wastewater annually that would have needed to be spread on local farmland. That’s more than twice the waste produced by the entire human population of Rochester. Due to the area’s karst topography, land-applied fertilizer and manure seep largely uninterrupted into the groundwater, which is already well above nitrate-levels deemed safe in Winona County. This groundwater is the only source of drinking water for much of the County.
Defenders of Drinking Water, a group of Winona County residents whose water stood to be impacted by the expansion, intervened in the ongoing court battle last January. Working with Land Stewardship Project, the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy (MCEA) represented the residents in the case.
“Today, the Court of Appeals affirmed, once again, that Winona County has the right to determine how best to balance the economic interests of its growing agricultural sector with the community’s right to safe drinking water,” said Amelia Vohs, staff attorney at MCEA. “Local ordinances are an important tool to help protect the public from nitrate-contamination tied to factory feedlots and we are glad the Court affirmed their authority in its decision.”
Winona County adopted its animal cap ordinance in 1998 to balance the interests of farmers with the unique risks industrial agricultural practices pose to groundwater within the region’s unusual karst topography. Groundwater is the area’s main source of drinking water for residents, whether they use city drinking water or have a private well. That means that large feedlots such as Daley Farm are particularly hazardous in Winona County because the nitrate from the liquid manure used on farm fields is quickly absorbed into the groundwater below the surface. To make matters worse, nitrate levels are already well above recommended levels in Winona County.
Nitrate contaminated drinking water is dangerous as nitrate pollution can be toxic and in some cases fatal for infants. Elevated levels of nitrate are also linked to health conditions including colon cancer, bladder cancer, and birth defects.
Given the severity of the problem in the karst region, MCEA and ten other environmental organizations filed a petition to the EPA in 2023 asking the federal agency to use its emergency authority to intervene in the crisis because the state response to date has proven inadequate. The EPA sent a letter to state agencies, urging swift action. In response, state agencies created a plan to both help people with contaminated drinking water and work toward long-term reductions in nitrate pollution. Last spring, the Minnesota Legislature appropriated millions of dollars to fund public health and conservation measures requested by the agencies. Already, the state has begun outreach to vulnerable well owners and is in the process of revising water pollution permits for industrial feedlots.
That said, nitrate levels in lakes, rivers, and groundwater in areas around Minnesota–particularly in the karst region–remain dangerously high, and more must be done to address this public health threat.
Here's the appeal's court decision:
A23-1953 Daley Farm of Lewiston, L.L.P., et al., Appellants, vs. County of Winona, Respondent, Land Steward... uploaded by Sally Jo Sorensen on Scribd
Photo: Holstein cattle at the Daley Farms. Photo rustled from the Daley Farm of Lewiston website.
Related posts
- In amicus brief, five ag groups ask to weigh in on ruling that blocked Daley dairy’s expansion plans
- Will MPCA's Clean Water Council recommend unconstitutional use of Legacy funds for mitigation of nitrate contamination of wells??
- State's southeastern Minnesota drinking water fix: grab donuts, coffee, and lobbyists, oh my
- Agency soup: MPCA, DNR, MDH & Ag release "Preventing fish kills in MN driftless region"
- Minnesota nitrate pollution update: raise fertilizer fees to help pay cost of nitrate pollution
- Land Stewardship Project applauds court’s support of Winona County; launches ‘Story Center Powerline’ initiative for rural residents
- Minnesota district court rules against Winona County dairy expansion; owner will appeal
- Agweek Special Report on Rural Health: 10% of MN private wells pose a health problem
- This is fine: update on MN state agencies' response to EPA letter on karst country nitrates
- Following emergency petition regarding nitrate contamination in SEMN karst region, EPA sees further action needed to protect public health
- On ‘Cancer Road,’ a group of southeastern MN families ask if nitrate exposure is to blame
- Eleven environmental groups petition EPA on nitrate pollution in Southeast Minnesota wate
- Strib scrutinizes MN Department of Ag action on nitrate-related Groundwater Protection Rule
- Nitrates in Southwestern Minnesota water: 'Do not give the water to infants' in Ellsworth
- Commentary from MinnPost: Can the state control nitrates in Minnesota waters?
- Minnesota Department of Health isn’t properly enforcing drinking water law, and kids will suffer
- is far from over
- Packed house at Newburg Township on using local control to protect community, karst
- All citizens are equal, but one thinks he's more equal: massive hog farm shareholder* seeks to prevent August 2 Newburgh Township meeting
- Jean Wagenius: For climate and clean water, state agencies need Walz to lead
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