ST. PAUL — The Supreme Court of Minnesota will not review the case against Goodhue County granting a conditional-use permit for a new hog confinement facility near Zumbrota.
Chief Justice Lorie S. Gildea signed the order of denial Monday, essentially ending the legal challenge against the county and the CUP issued to Circle K Family Farms.
"I don’t know that it puts an end to it yet," said Yon Kohlnhofer, one of three brothers who own Circle K.
In 2016, the family applied for a CUP to build a hog finishing facility that would house 4,700 swine between 55 and 300 pounds – 1,410 animal units – over a manure containment pit that can hold up to 3.1 million gallons of liquid manure. The project passed environmental review by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and received the CUP in February 2017.
From that point on, the case has been in the courts as opponents of the project first filed an appeal against the county’s decision for the CUP then, when that objections failed, filed for a review in the Minnesota Supreme Court.
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Kristi Rosenquist, one of the neighbors to the proposed hog facility who filed the appeals, said that while the case against the county and its issuance of the CUP might be done, her group has filed a case in district court against the building permits issued to the Kohlnhofers.
The county, she said, was not supposed to conduct any review of the building permits while there was a stay on construction during the time the case was being considered by the Minnesota Court of Appeals. Because the county improperly awarded the building permit, she said, they have filed a suit in district court to block it.
Goodhue County Land Use Director Lisa Hanni said while the case in district court is being considered, she is unsure whether another stay or hold will be put on construction.
County Attorney Stephen Betcher was unavailable for comment.
"Unless there’s a stay because of the district court, I don’t think there’s anything we can do to stop construction," Rosenquist said.
Meanwhile, the permit itself stipulates progress on construction must begin within 180 days of the permit’s issuance.
"It’s an ag building," Hanni said. "The only part under the building code is the portion that has a bathroom in it."
Kohlnhofer said the nonstop legal challenges against the county’s decisions are only costing the county’s taxpayers money. "I understand it’s paid for by the (Association of Minnesota Counties)," he said. "But eventually, the taxpayers are paying for what the opposers are doing."
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Win or lose at this point, Rosenquist said the battle has brought to light the fact that the MPCA has not conducted continuous air monitoring of feedlots in about 10 years.
"For them to say they monitor and enforce the standards, that’s crazy," Rosenquist said. "They don’t monitor."
That monitoring will start soon this spring when the Kohlnhofer’s Holst I site is the first to get continuous air monitoring for hydrogen sulfide emissions in a decade.
While he’s not thrilled about being singled out by the MPCA based on citizen testing done by Rosenquist and her group, Kohlnhofer said he’s ready to work with the MPCA.
"Our goal is to work with the PCA," he said. "We’ve worked with the PCA for 30 years."
