The Missouri Supreme Court has ruled against two challenges by Hickory Neighbors United, LLC to halt issuance of a permit for a concentrated animal feeding operation in Grundy County.
The unanimous ruling was made on Tuesday and addresses the constitutionality of a House bill that amends legislation regarding the Missouri Clean Water Commission and its authority to allow issuance of a permit to Trenton Farms RE LLC to operate a CAFO on property the Minnesota-based company owns on Route W, southwest of Trenton. Hickory Neighbors had questioned the legality of the bill in regard to the make-up of the commission, to which three new members were appointed the day before a hearing was to be held regarding the group’s challenge to a CAFO permit issued by the Department of Natural Resources.
The court ruled the purpose of the House bill, when introduced, “was to add statutory sections related to wastewater treatment systems” and that membership of the commission “was germane to the regulation of the matters it has the power and duty to oversee.
Also at issue was whether or not two proposed manure containment structures would be protected in the event of a 100-year flood. The court ruled the commission did not err in finding the structures in compliance, noting that a certified flood manager’s report concluded the CAFO would be above the base flood elevation and would be protected from inundation and damage from a 100-year flood event.
Don Davis owns the property on which the CAFO is to be located and has been working with the Pinnacle Group of Iowa Falls, IA to develop the complex, which plans to house over 6,000 sows, 320 nursery pigs and 960 swine over 55 pounds. Trenton Farms RE, LLC has an address of Pipestone, MN and a group from Pipestone would be managing the facility.
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