News

Two water commissioners removed from CAFO case

A Cole County judge has ruled that two Missouri Clean Water commissioners cannot vote on the case of a proposed hog farm in central Missouri.

Commission Chairman Todd Parnell and member Ashley McCarty toured the proposed site of the Callaway Farrowing hog farm in 2015 at the invitation of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources as the farm appeals its rejection for a permit to operate.

Stephen Jeffery is the attorney for Friends of Responsible Agriculture which filed suit. He tells Brownfield Ag News, “The DNR people probably should not have invited those two commissioners to drive by and observe the location to the very site that they were considering the permit appeal.”

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Jeffery says the Clean Water Commission has to follow the same rules as other administrative agencies and base decisions upon evidence presented AT hearings, not outside of hearings.

The Friends of Responsible Agriculture is fighting the 10-thousand head hog CAFO, saying it would harm water and soil in the area.