Appeal Hearing Set On Roaring River Cafo

[Phil Lilley]

January 04, 2009 09:45 pm

http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/local_story_004214620.html

— By Wally Kennedy

wkennedy@joplinglobe.com

An appeal hearing on the construction and operating permits for the Ozbun chicken concentrated animal feeding operation near Roaring River State Park will start at 9 a.m. Thursday, according to a spokeswoman for the Missouri Administrative Hearing Commission.

The two-day hearing will take place in Room 540 of the Truman Building in Jefferson City.

The Ozbun CAFO houses up to 65,600 pullets for George’s Processing, a poultry plant near Cassville. It was granted an operating permit on Aug. 22, 2007, by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.

The CAFO is within a mile or so of the river and the state park, a popular tourist destination in Barry County.

Local residents, supported by trout fishermen, environmentalists and tourism groups around the state, have formed the Roaring River Parks Alliance to oppose the CAFO and the possible construction of other CAFOs near the state park.

Similar controversies have erupted regarding hog and chicken CAFOs near other state parks and historic sites, such as the Arrow Rock and Battle of Athens state historic sites.

Opponents have argued that the CAFO at Roaring River will damage water quality in the spring and river, and be a drain on tourism.

The opponents also have said they will attempt to show that the DNR circumvented the original construction permit by allowing changes after the fact. The changes were made, they allege, without the public having an opportunity to comment on them.

Opponents also plan to cite the geology of the site, noting that there is a losing stream on the property that is an unnamed tributary to Roaring River. A losing stream is a water body that may lose and gain flow as water moves through the hydrologic system.

It is not clear how a recent decision by Cole County Circuit Judge Patricia Joyce will affect the hearing. The judge’s ruling prohibits the construction of hog CAFOs within two miles of the Arrow Rock State Historic Site. Originally, the judge created a 15-mile buffer around the park, but she later decided to reduce that to two miles.

State regulators say the waste-management system for the Ozbun CAFO has been designed and permitted as a no-discharge operation, which means wastes are contained and stored until proper land application can take place.

Michelle and Rodney Ozbun, owners of the CAFO, have retained Michael Schmid, an associate in the firm of Schreimann, Rackers, Francka and Blunt in Jefferson City, to represent them.

The Roaring River Parks Alliance will be represented by John Price, of Springfield.

The DNR will be represented by an attorney associated with the Missouri attorney general’s office.

Commission

The Missouri Administrative Hearing Commission, part of the executive branch of state government, is a neutral, administrative tribunal that functions as a court-like or quasi-judicial entity to resolve conflicts involving permits and other contested issues in Missouri.

[troutchaser]

Grrrrrrrr.....

[john19]

I can't wait until they decide that the CAFO's are bad and then the Trout Hatchery get shut down. Since by definition thats what they are. Whats good for the goose is good for the gander.

John

[troutchaser]

You can't wait for that? Interesting.

The issue really isn't what it is as much as it's environmental impact. Trout need high quality water to survive. The poultry farm would be detrimental - regardless of the "no waste discharge" system.

[john19]

The Trout do need high quality cold water to survive. If you will sit down and look at the numbers the chicken farm will put less waste into the environment than a trout hatchery.

The problem is that people are trying to fight CAFO's and by definition that is what a hatchery is. What I am saying is it only gives big corporations fuel for the fire if they rule against the CAFO's. Because then they could start fighting the state Commission and ultimately shut the Hatcheries down.

Just another way the enviromentalist can ultimately win in the long run.

[duckydoty]

This was taken from the MoDNR website. My guess from this is that only certain agricultural live stock are classified for CAFOs. Lets hope this is the case so in that manner they can be fought.

I've been driving through northern Arkansas alot lately and the smell that permeates the air around them CAFOs is terrible. That alone cant be good for the environment.

Classification of Animal

Feeding Operations

The requirements are based on the number

of animal units at each operating location.

Table 1 shows the different animal species

and Table 1a shows the animal unit range

within the separate classifications.

1.0 Beef feeder or slaughter animal

0.5 Horse

0.7 Dairy cow

2.5 Swine weighing over 55 pounds

15 Swine weighing less than 55 pounds

10 Sheep

30 Laying hens

60 Pullets

55 Turkeys

100 Broiler chickens

[Micheal Kyle]

Growing up on a farm and running one in Kansas I can see both sides. It sure will be an intresting ruling when it comes down.

[john19]

you don't think a trout hatchery stinks! By defintion that's what they are. Like it or not. They do not have to be on a lust for numbers if you think they are not regulated too the you are just fooling yourself. If they win this they might be able to come back to this and fight what we love and that's fishing the way we know it today.

[Aaron J Scott]

What MDC does with the wastewater from the BSSP hatchery:

The Bennett Spring Fish Hatchery uses about 20 percent of the average flow from Bennett Spring for trout production prior to discharging the water into the Niangua River. There have been no known problems with this discharge, except occasional complaints by anglers of excess turbidity when raceways are flushed to remove accumulated sediment. Most of the sediment laden effluent is now applied to MDC land at Bennett Spring CA.

Other wastewater from Bennett Spring State Park is treated in three lagoons and then land applied on the Bennett Spring CA. Historic ponding effluent and excess runoff problems have been reduced by increasing the land area for application. Lagoon effluent is occasionally drained directly into the Niangua River during high flows to increase storage capacity. These incidents have reportedly been reduced by eliminating some of the storm water that had been draining to the lagoons.

(From the MDC Web site)

[john19]

Sounds like a livestock operation (I.e. Chicken, cattle, sheep) to me. Lagoons and spreading waste on fields. That has to drains somewhere.

I don't know about you guys but I can sart seeing the simmolaritys. I bet those people that are representing the chicken farmers will too.