Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green has denied a motion to dismiss a lawsuit involving a permit to approve a 10,000-hog Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) in Kingdom City.
Members of Friends of Responsible Agriculture (FORAG) filed the lawsuit against the Missouri Clean Water Commission (CWC), the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Callaway Farrowing. The lawsuit sought information gathered during tours of two hog CAFOs on March 31 and April 1.
Members of FORAG and its counsel were not invited on the tours, while five commissioners and attorneys representing the DNR and Callaway Farrowing gathered information that was not presented as evidence, according to a press release.
"The members saw what the facilities looked like and what it smelled like," FORAG counsel Stephen Jeffery said. "FORAG wasn't given notice or invited to the tours, and they don't know what information was provided so they can't rebut it."
In December 2014, FORAG contested a permit the DNR issued to Callaway Farrowing to operate the hog CAFO.
At a February hearing, FORAG alleged the hog farm would generate more than 4.4 million gallons of liquid hog waste, which would be stored in something similar to a cement swimming pool. Kathi Martin, a witness for FORAG, testified the facility would be two football fields long and 200 feet wide and located near a surface stream, which creates the potential for environmental contamination.
FORAG's lawsuit stated the CWC can only consider information presented at the hearing and not from information the commissioners gathered during the tours. The lawsuit also sought to prevent the five commissioners who went on the tour to make any decisions on the appeal of the permit.
On June 5, Circuit Judge Patricia Joyce issued a Writ of Prohibition, requiring the DNR, CWC and Callaway Farrowing "to refrain from further action" until Judge Green's decision was announced.
With Green's denial of the motion to dismiss the lawsuit, the DNR and CWC will have 30 days to respond to FORAG's requests, which seek detailed information about the tours including who arranged them, what happened during the tour, what the commissioners saw and why FORAG was excluded from attending.
A hearing is scheduled for Sept. 28.