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Feedlot Opponents Again File Lawsuit

Posted on: Tuesday, 27 September 2005, 00:00 CDT

By John Weiss, Post-Bulletin, Rochester, Minn.

Sep. 24--Those opposing a large hog feedlot being built in northeast Dodge County have filed a lawsuit again to try to stop it.

Berne Area Alliance for Quality Living filed suit recently in the Minnesota Court of Appeals against farmer Mark Finstuen; Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, which approved a permit to build the feedlot; and Dodge County, which gave Finstuen the conditional use permit, said Jay Squires of the Twin Cities, attorney for the county.

At issue is the size of the feedlot and whether it should have a federal national pollutant discharge elimination system permit, he said.

When Finstuen first proposed it, opponents argued -- and an appeals court judge agreed -- that there was room for enough hogs that it would automatically trigger the need for the federal permit. Finstuen said he wouldn't have enough hogs in it to reach the limit, but a court agreed with the alliance.

Finstuen redesigned the project so it wouldn't hold enough hogs and got approval from MPCA and the county board.

He has had concrete poured for the base of one building and is working on another, said Duane Johnson, Dodge County planner.

The alliance doesn't agree with the decisions and has again gone to the court of appeals.

No hearing has been set for the two suits that might be consolidated, Squires said.

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Source: Post-Bulletin

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