STPAUL, Minn. – In yet another setback for the Daley farm family at Lewiston, the Minnesota Court of Appeals said no to expanding the Daley herd. The issue was whether a Winona judge had erred in upholding the county’s cap on herd size. In the new decision, Appellate Judge Randall Slieter called the Winona court decision “reasonable and neither arbitrary nor capricious.” For eight years the Daleys have fought for an exception from the county’s 1,500 animal unit cap for feedlots, which were intended to protect underground water supplies from pollution. The Daleys want to expand to 6,000 animal units. Backed financially by large-scale dairy organizations, the Daleys have persisted through multiple legal appeals to have their way – and been rebuffed consistently. In the latest appeal, the Daleys claimed that the Winona Board was influenced unfairly by an advisory zoning commission that was stacked against them. Judge Slieter would have none of it. He noted that the Winona County Board had questioned every member of the zoning commission about their affiliations and tat all the members indicated that their vote on the variance application was based solely on information that was on record.
Feedlot max profile
Winona County adopted its animal cap in 1998 to balance the interests of farmers with the risks that industrial-scale agricultural practices pose to groundwater. The concern was nitrate contamination in Winona County’s porous underground geology. High nitrate levels are associated with blue baby syndrome , accelerated heart rates, nausea, stomach cramps and headaches. The usually acceptable max for nitrates iin drinking waters is 10 parts per million. The state Agriculture Department says nitrates in 10 townships in central and western Winona County and eastern Olmsted County exceed safe levels 10% to 55%. Nobody around Lewiston, for example, has drunk well water in years.