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November
1, 2006
The Green Commissioner and the Hog Lot
Green
Stench in Minnesota
By MIKE KNAPP
Southeastern Minnesota is beautiful
country, with rolling hills along the Mississippi River. The
largest city in the area is Winona, which has a population of
about 30,000 with two universities and a technical college.
Spreading out west of the river are hundreds of farms, an increasing
number of which are organic.
Agribusiness interests have
much bigger plans for the area. Throughout the decade, there
has been a steady stream of farmers who wish to expand their
livestock operations. In 2001, under pressure from such forces
to maximize production, the Winona County Commissioners increased
the number of animals routinely permitted on a farm to a limit
of 1500 animal units which is equivalent to either 1100
dairy cows or 5000 swine. The County Board may still deny a
Conditional Use Permit for operations below this limit, but its
decision must be based on evidence and specific, science-based
reasoning.
The size of farms and their
stewardship of the land became a major issue of debate in Winona
County. Many people favored smaller farms and organic agriculture.
But the Minnesota Legislature authorized state assistance to
counties who embrace industrial-scale agriculture. Administered
by the Department of Agriculture, the effort was deceptively
called the Livestock Friendly Counties Program. Most prominently,
the program only assists counties that have no limit to the allowable
size of livestock feedlots. In 2004, the legislature even considered
a bill that would entirely remove local permitting authority
over feedlots. The measure failed, but the battle continued.
Dwayne Voegeli burst on the
scene in 2002 as a Green candidate for the Winona County Commission.
Voegeli had a background as a social studies teacher at the
local high school. He was endorsed by the Winona County Green
Party and widely praised in the two local newspapers as a man
who valued both ecology and democracy. His public endorsements
included letters from Kevin Rafferty, Julie Prondzinski, Clay
and Cherisa Templeton, Richie Swanson, Joyce Ford, Lorraine Redig,
Dean Lanz, Michael Sersch, Marci Hitz, Betty Darby, Monica De
Grazia, Sarah Dixen, and Jenny Shanahan.
During his campaign for office,
Voegeli himself made a number of statements that seemed to offer
opposition to factory farms. Just before the primary, Voegeli
was interviewed by the Winona Daily News, and according
to the reporter he was "concerned about wells being contaminated
with nitrates" and said that he "favors the county
controlling large feed lots." He offered similar views
just before the general election, when the same reporter wrote,
"Being the fourth generation raised on a Wisconsin farm,
Voegeli wants to fight pollution while supporting family farms."
Three years later, something
had changed.
In 2005, Sauer Family Farms
petitioned Winona County for a permit to increase the number
of hogs raised on their farm near Lewiston. Chris Sauer and
his brother, Jason already had one of the largest livestock farms
in the county, with 1,500 hogs split between two locations.
But that wasn't enough for them. They wanted to consolidate
and expand their operation increasing it to 2,100 hogs
on one farm. The crux of the proposal would be a giant concrete
pit, under two hog barns, that would hold almost one million
gallons of manure.
Sauer argued that the proposal
would increase the benefits of natural fertilizer for their 1,700
acres of row crops. He explained, "We're only trying to
be more efficient." Kay Peterson countered that "efficiency"
was not necessarily a virtue. She pointed to the folly of efficiently
concentrating a million gallons of manure on land right above
a trout stream.
Other neighbors of the Sauer
farm also voiced strong objection to the proposal. At a four-hour
public hearing described as "contentious" by the reporter
for the Winona Daily News, Jim Gurley challenged the notion
that the scale of the Sauer Family Farm fit the character of
the surrounding countryside. Gurley said, "He may call
it a family farm, but the numbers make it an industrial operation."
Jim Riddle, an organic inspector
and the immediate past chairman of the USDA's National Organic
Standards Board, pointed out that the hogs were being raised
for Tyson Foods, Inc. a corporation that proudly identifies
itself as the "world's largest processor and marketer of
chicken, beef, and pork, the second-largest food company in the
Fortune 500, and a member of the S&P 500." The goal
of Tyson's Horizontal Integration is to make the corporation
the "largest provider of protein products on the planet."
Riddle argued that if the Sauer Conditional Use Permit were
approved, it would set a precedent for land use in Winona County.
The Winona newspapers published
passionate letters and a guest editorial about the ecological
risk and the injustice of supporting agribusiness at the expense
of the community. The debate raged for weeks. The position
of the local Chamber of Commerce was that the surrounding community
should have no right to limit the size of an industrial operation
on private land. The editorial board of the Winona Daily
News argued that bigger farms were necessary and not a matter
of choice.
Meanwhile, Commissioner Voegeli
wrote a warm, fuzzy letter about how great it was for people
to "share their thoughts" in public debate. He was
particularly impressed by how poised and articulate the president
of the local Chamber of Commerce was. He wrote, "Last night's
meeting was a great day for local democracy in Winona County."
Two weeks later, Dwayne Voegeli
cast the deciding vote in favor of the feedlot. He was the only
member of the Green Party among the five members of the commission.
The newspaper reported:
The permit was approved on
the swing vote of Commissioner Dwayne Voegeli .
Commissioners Duane Bell and
Jerry Heim voted against the permit. Bell cited health concerns
and said he has never received so many calls on an issue. Heim
said he had received calls "running 10 to one against."
But as downwinder Susan Sommers noted a few days later, the majority
on the County Board decided that supporting large business growth
was more important than ecology or human health. Commissioner
Voegeli tried to cover his tracks with the promise of "electrostatic
biocurtain" mitigation technology one of the conditions
of approval that were described in the official proceedings of
the meeting. Neighbors of the feedlot later found such promises
easy to ridicule when their backyard air still smelled like hog
farts.
In stark contrast, the editorial
board of the Winona Daily News specifically praised Voegeli
for his "politically courageous" support for the fetid
feedlot and mammoth manure pit:
It is a good decision, and
we have Commissioner Dwayne Voegeli to thank for it .
In his life away from the county
board, Voegeli is a teacher, but that Tuesday morning he taught
a civics lesson that those who serve at all levels of government
would do well to attend to.
Well done, Dwayne.
The social studies teacher
had developed some important friends, and the party had only
just begun.
* * *
Eight months later, Smith Family
Farms sought to expand part of their agribusiness that extends
across 37 different farms in three counties, totaling more than
6,000 acres. They raise 4,000 hogs and 200 dairy cows in concentrated
warehouses, similar to other factory farms. They applied for
a permit to increase one particular feedlot to 2,400 hogs in
Wiscoy Township. The proposal was for two hog barns and two
manure pits each holding 500,000 gallons.
Before the Winona County Planning
and Zoning Commission had considered the permit, 41 citizens
of Wiscoy Township unanimously adopted a resolution in opposition
to the feedlot at their annual township meeting in March. The
theme of the resolution was the substantial risk of the proposed
operation to the health of nearby residents and to the surrounding
environment. Another resolution was also unanimously passed
to consider a temporary moratorium on all permits for new or
expanded "confinement operations with more than 300 animal
units."
A week later, Jim Riddle provided
both Winona newspapers with a detailed argument against the conditional
use permit. His first point was that the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency had already found excess fecal coliform bacteria
in nearby Money Creek. Fecal coliform itself is not pathogenic,
but it is an indicator species for the presence of dangerous
pathogens that cause diseases such as typhoid fever, hepatitis,
gastroenteritis or dysentery.
Riddle explained that if the
county were to authorize new sources of animal waste into a watershed
that was already identified as polluted, that would be a violation
of the federal Clean Water Act. Furthermore, Money Creek happens
to be a designated trout stream, according to the Minnesota Department
of Natural Resources. The potential of chronic leaks or catastrophic
spills of hog manure would put this fish habitat into further
jeopardy.
Meanwhile, the local Chamber
of Commerce was very much in favor of expanded hog "production"
for "jobs". They discounted the arguments of the organic
inspector including the idea of the precautionary principle.
They urged the citizens to only consider the animal confinement
operation as a source of beneficial fertilizer. As for those
incredibly noxious fumes, well that would be just a small price
for prosperity.
In the end, the decision came
down to the five people on the county commission. Two were quickly
against the application, while two were strongly in favor of
it. Only the chairman of the committee was undecided. He publicly
waffled and delayed. The committee met two extra times before
they finally decided.
Once again, Dwayne Voegeli,
the representative of the Green Party cast the deciding vote
in favor of a larger lagoon of manure.
Three months later, Voegeli
supported a third feedlot. This time it was for 1300 dairy cows,
with a pit holding 5.7 million gallons of manure. Despite its
enormity, there was little vocal opposition to the feedlot, and
the vote on the commission was unanimous. Voegeli joked, "I
guess we just like cows more than pigs." Perhaps the citizens
had been metaphorically beaten into submission by the futility
of trying to reason with a majority of their elected representatives
including the one with the "Green" label.
Writing for the antithesis
of green ideology, the President of the Winona Chamber of Commerce
chirped, "Good call Commissioner!"
Mike Knapp lives in Minnesota. He can be reached
through his website: Knappster.
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