State, others settle with ValAdCo

Tisdell lawsuit

remains

By FRITZ BUSCH

Journal Staff Writer

OLIVIA -- Are the decade-long disputes over foul odors and hydrogen sulfide from ValAdCo's hog production sites in Renville County over with?

For now, they appear to be, for the most part, according to a settlement presented to Renville District Court Judge Randall J. Slieter on New Year's Eve.

Under the agreement between ValAdCo and the State Attorney General's Office and Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, large, open air lagoons are to be replaced by a closed, cement holding tanks. Lagoons on five other farms are to be drained and returned to wetlands.

ValAdCo was ordered to pay a $125,000 fine. All but one lawsuit against the hog facilities have been settled.

The agreement paved the way for Christensen Family Farms of Sleepy Eye to acquire the controversial hog production facilities in Renville County. A transfer date is not yet known.

Christensen Farms cannot be held responsible for any liabilities that may result from litigation by private individuals against ValAdCo, according to the court agreement with the Attorney General's Office and Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

A settlement was reached on Dec. 27 concerning a nuisance lawsuit filed by Attorney General Mike Hatch on July 30, 2002 against the largest hog feed lot lagoon in Minnesota located in Norfolk Township.

Hatch began the lawsuit after three monitors installed by his Office recorded excessive hydrogen sulfite emissions at the Norfolk 27 hog facility during the spring and summer of 2002.

The site, located about 10 miles east of Olivia was the largest of seven ValAdCo facilities. It had primary lagoons that held up to 13 million gallons of manure produced by more than 15,000 hogs.

Under the settlement, Christensen Farms -- which is buying the operation from ValAdCo -- agreed to empty the lagoon of 13 million gallons of manure at the Norfolk 27 site, bulldoze the lagoon walls and restore it to a natural condition.

Two covered, cement storage pits -- about 100 feet in diameter and 25 feet deep -- will hold future solid manure that is to be removed annually. Primary manure lagoons, about the same size as those at Norfolk 27, at five other farms are to cease operation and be replaced by concrete storage pits.

Christensen Farms is to undertake annual water samples at each site and have them analyzed by an independent laboratory. Lab test results are to be reported to Renville County officials.

The Attorney General's Office will keep and maintain monitors at the Norfolk 27 site over the next year. The Office will not take action against Christensen Farms if there are hydrogen sulfide violations while the manure is being removed from the lagoon.

The Attorney General will take appropriate action to secure relief if monitors show violations after the lagoon is caved in.

Christensen Farms will add permeable covers to secondary pits at each farm and apply for all necessary permits from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and Renville County in order to operate the ValAdCo sites.

Clean up and construction of new facilities is scheduled to start after the winter thaw.

Meanwhile, a lawsuit by Michael and Patricia Tisdell and Tisdell Farms of Olivia against ValAdCo remains in the courts. The Minnesota Supreme Court recently let stand a Court of Appeals ruling disallowing claims the Tisdells made against the lender, accountant and legal counsel retained by ValAdCo.

The Tisdells disagreed with $1 million in penalties that ValAdCo levied against them for corn deliveries they were allegedly required to make as coop shareholders.

Neighbors of the existing hog facilities said they are cautiously optimistic about the agreements.

Julie and Jeff Jansen of Olivia settled out of court with ValAdCo on Dec. 5, 2002. They intend to move from their home near the Norfolk 27 site. Julie Jansen promoted monitoring and enforcement of hydrogen sulfide standards at the lagoons. The Attorney General's Office enforced the standards in its legal battle with ValAdCo.

The Jansens alleged that their 11-year-old daughter had neurological damage from prolonged exposure to hydrogen sulfide.

Jansen said she could not comment on the ValAdCo matter, citing a five-year "gag order" that was part of the agreement.

Now a lobbyist for the Clean Water Action Alliance, she is working on feed lot pollution cases across the country. Later this year, she will testify in Wyoming, at a conference in New Mexico and in front of the Minnesota Legislature.

Paul Homme of Granite Falls, a trained microbiologist and member of the Land Stewardship Project's board of directors was cautiously optimistic about the sale to Christensen Farms.

"ValAdCo promised for 10 years that its latest fix would work but it never did," Homme said. "The question is will this solve the problem? Maybe, maybe not. I hope the cement pits work but there is still a terrific concentration of animals in a small area."