Fight over farm expansion heads to state appeals court

A circuit court judge has dismissed a request to overturn groundwater monitoring requirements imposed on one of the state's largest dairy farms.

The ruling is the latest development in more than two years of fighting between Kinnard Farms Inc., in the town of Lincoln, and its neighbors, who along with some environmental groups want to halt the farm's planned expansion from about 4,000 cows to 6,200 cows.

The farm's critics accuse it of polluting groundwater by overspreading manure. In 2013 they filed a legal challenge to a water discharge permit application required for the farm to grow. An administrative law judge allowed the expansion to continue under the condition that the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources add groundwater monitoring requirements and a cap on the number of cows to the permit.

Lee Kinnard, the farm's owner, said the added conditions go beyond the DNR's authority to enforce and are based on a smear campaign by environmentalists.

Kinnard appealed the administrative law judge's decision to the Door County Circuit Court. Judge Todd Ehlers dismissed that appeal last week after determining the case couldn't be appealed until the Wisconsin DNR finalized a modified permit.

He said he has filed an appeal with the Wisconsin Court of Appeals.

The environmental group leading the charge against Kinnard Farms said the family-owned company is resisting what the group considers reasonable efforts to protect people's groundwater.

"The people in Kewaunee County don't need more legal delays. They need clean groundwater," said Stacy Harbaugh, spokesperson for Midwest Environmental Advocates.

The Madison-based group is representing five of Kinnard's neighbors, who filed the 2013 legal challenge.

They considered it a major victory when administrative Law Judge Jeffrey Boldt ruled in October that the farm needs to begin monitoring groundwater for pollution. Boldt cited a "massive regulatory failure to protect groundwater" in his decision.

Kinnard said the extra conditions are unnecessary and will overburden his operation. He said large farms already operate under stringent regulations.

"Midwest Environmental Advocates are tackling the big guy with zero knowledge on what is already being done on protectionism. It's a smear campaign," he said.

Kinnard Farms applied for a permit to expand in March 2012.

Kinnard said he is moving forward with the expansion and expects it to be complete by the end of the year.

Kewaunee County has become a focal point for debate over large-scale farms, known as concentrated animal feeding operations or CAFOs, that have at least 700 cows.

It is home to 15 permitted CAFOs, the second most in the state. The county also has a fractured geology and thin soil that allows contaminants to seep easily into groundwater.

Environmental groups assert that these large farms produce more manure than can be safely spread on fields, which has caused widespread pollution of drinking wells and waterways. Research compiled by the groups shows one third of tested wells in the county contain nitrates, E. coli and other harmful bacteria.

Several groups petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency in October to exercise emergency powers under the Safe Drinking Water Act to intervene in Kewaunee County. The groups also requested the federal agency launch an investigation into Kinnard Farms Inc., which they accuse of causing the worst pollution.

— arodewal@pressgazettemedia.com and follow him on Twitter @AdamGRodewald and on Facebook at Facebook.com/AdamGRodewald.