By Sara Strong
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency heard more reaction Tuesday from local producers as comprehensive feedlot inspections approach.
July will bring county employees and the Board of Water and Soil Resources to every feedlot in the county for a Level III, or the most extensive inspection.
The Rock County Board of Commissioners brought the MPCA to the table during their regular meeting Tuesday for a review of the random file inspection already conducted. And livestock producers turned out to offer questions and comments to the MPCA.
Admittedly, most producers don't agree with some state regulations and others don't like the agency that enforces those regulations.
Richard Bakken, rural Garretson, S.D., said he has "no respect" for the MPCA after the way he was treated 10 years ago when he was volunteering to bring his operation into compliance.
"You would have thought I was the worst guy in the state of Minnesota," he said.
Hills cattleman Gene Sandager said the scrutiny Rock County is going through isn't fair. "They don't have to do it in Nebraska, Argentina or Brazil, but we have to do it in southwest Minnesota," he said.
The county’s part in the upcoming inspections include having a Land Management Office employee present during BWSR inspections and sharing some costs. The MPCA will visit the county weekly and specific sites when directed by the county to do so. The Attorney General will be updated as the process continues.
County costs will be partially covered by the settlement from a plea agreement with David Logan of Global Ventures, a hog operation that was involved in bribery crimes.
BWSR received $130,000 to spend on inspections and Rock County received $30,000.
In new county dollars spent, Rock County Administrator Kyle Oldre estimates that $80,000 is needed to get through the inspections. That includes hiring an additional clerical person to help the LMO in data entry during the heavily administrative process.
Preliminary tests
The Level III inventories are being done by to ensure no environmental harm was done during the tenure of former LMO director John Burgers. He was implicated in the Global Ventures scandal.
The county's options were limited if it didn't follow through with the Level III. It could have lost permitting rights and grant money.
MPCA completed a random audit of 71 permits of the 618 in LMO files.
The MPCA isn't releasing specific findings or numbers of infractions from that audit, but said most of the files showed some type of error. They were more often administrative and minor rule violations, and were less often major ones.
Some of the areas of concern included: unpermitted and the closure of unpermitted earthen basins, open lot runoff with new construction, engineering plans for construction of manure storage areas, animal unit miscalculation and incorrectly identifying animal species.
The County Board accepted the audit review and passed a work plan outlining what the county will do to correct problems. It also passed a Memorandum of Understanding, which is an agreement with the MPCA in relation to the inspections.
By approving these documents, the county keeps its status as a delegated feedlot county, which means it can approve permits without state inspection, and keeps state environmental grants.
Doug Bos, of the LMO, said, "I think this is the best scenario we can go by."
Bakken said, "I don't know of a better way to do it than having local people work with producers on their sites."
No black and white
MPCA representatives agreed that many of its statutes and regulations are open to interpretation.
That's what concerns Rock County producers because they were granted permits based on another feedlot officer's interpretations.
Earthen basins, for example, are simply part of the ground that may collect manure.
MPCA representative Jerry Holein said, hypothetically, that a 6-inch depression could be defined as an earthen basin. "It can be anything when it gets to the point where it’s stagnant and holding manure," he said.
MPCA Regional Manager Myrna Halbach said, "One of the things through this process we'll see, is that there's no black and white."
Holein said, "The concern is the integrity of the groundwater."
Commissioner Ron Boyenga said that as a member of the Rock County Rural Water Board, he understands the importance of water quality. "But we don’t want to put people out of business so there's no one to drink it either," he said.
Preserving the state's waterways is the chief concern of the MPCA when considering feedlots. If producers are found to have been wrongly permitted, they must come into compliance at their own cost, which will probably include an engineer signing off on a project.
Sandager said that's where his worries start. "My concern is this: You said it wasn't your intention to put us out of business. But we're running on zero to negative margins so putting dollars into our feedlots will cause us to go out of business."
Inevitable inspections
Rock County is the first in the state to see the total feedlot inspection, but the state has a goal of visiting every feedlot.
Rock County actually set that same goal in 1997, so this Level III inventory is just accelerating what would have been eventual. The goal end date for the Level III inspections is December 2004, but the county must continue after that date if the inspections aren't complete.
A Feedlot Task Force is being formed to work through the inspection process in the county. Those interested in joining can contact Oldre. The Task Force will discuss rule interpretations within the statutes' gray areas and help disseminate public information.
For specific information on feedlot rules, visit the MPCA Web site: www.pca.state.mn.us. Click on Hot Topics, then Feedlots. A feedlot help-line is available at 1-877-333-3508.