Matt Doll, Minnesota Environmental Partnership
Last Monday, the Minnesota Court of Appeals upheld Winona County’s decision not to let Daley Farm expand its dairy feedlot to nearly quadruple the county’s animal unit cap. The decision is a significant win for local residents concerned about the feedlot’s potential to further contaminate the waters of an already polluted area of the state.
This case has been a political and legal football since 2018, when Daley Farm first applied for a variance – essentially an exemption – to Winona County’s 1500 animal unit cap. The dairy argued that to survive in today’s dairy market, it had to expand – in this case, more than tripling its herd of dairy cattle. Its operation had already been grandfathered in when the county’s feedlot cap was adopted.
But that expansion would have major negative environmental impacts on Winona County’s water, requiring enormous volumes of groundwater and producing millions of gallons of additional manure. It would threaten to cause further contamination in a geologically vulnerable area. Throughout southeastern Minnesota, residents who rely on well water are already suffering from rampant nitrate pollution linked to cancer and birth defects. Earlier drinking water testing of targeted Winona County townships done by the MN Department of Agriculture found that 65% of private wells tested reported elevated levels of nitrate in their drinking water, and fully 19% of these were in excess of the state health limits.
Residents of Winona County concerned about these impacts and the bypassing of local laws organized themselves in opposition to the expansion. They formed a group called Defenders of Drinking Water and have worked with MEP member groups Land Stewardship Project and Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy (MCEA) to advocate for Winona County’s animal unit cap to be upheld. In 2019, the Winona County Board of Adjustment upheld the unit cap and denied Daley’s request for a variance.
But Daley Farm, supported by statewide corporate agricultural interests, fought back, successfully nullifying the Board of Adjustment’s decision on the grounds that it was “arbitrary and capricious.” After the Board denied the variance once again, Daley Farm turned to the Court of Appeals, bringing us to the present day.
The Court of Appeals determined that this most recent Board of Adjustment decision was reasonable, not arbitrary. In his opinion, Judge Randall Slieter further concluded that Daley Farm’s argument that staying below the animal unit cap would harm it economically doesn’t hold water – the law clearly states that economic considerations are not sufficient excuse to get around the limit.
Land Stewardship Project and MCEA have hailed this decision as a victory for democracy and clean water. We heartily agree. In far too many cases, Minnesota’s agencies have accommodated industries’ bids to bypass state and local environmental laws. When these laws are bent too far, they lose all their meaning, and the results can be seen around the state: struggling wild rice beds, rampant mercury pollution in the St. Louis River, and nitrate contamination throughout the Driftless region.
Fortunately, thanks to local organizing and the strength of Minnesota’s environmental community, this effort has proven successful – an example of restored protections for the lands and waters that give us life.