A decision could come at any time on an appeal of the state permit that allowed construction of a 65,600-chicken CAFO within a mile or so of Roaring River State Park.

At the same time, Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster is weighing whether to continue an appeal of a circuit judge’s decision that would prohibit construction of CAFOs, or confined animal feeding operations, within two miles of state parks and historic sites. That appeal is pending before the Western District of the Missouri Court of Appeals at Kansas City.

The two cases are connected. When Cole County Circuit Judge Patricia Joyce ruled last year that a 4,800-head hog CAFO could not be located within two miles of the historic village of Arrow Rock, she cited the permit problems associated with the chicken CAFO near Roaring River as evidence that the Missouri Department of Natural Resources lacked the ability to protect state parks and historic sites from the detrimental effects of CAFOs.

Koster has asked for more time to weigh the options over whether he will continue the appeal of the two-mile buffer that was started under Gov. Matt Blunt’s administration. He was given that time last week when the Court of Appeals granted a 30-day extension. The next hearing date on the appeal of the two-mile buffer is set for Oct. 28. In the meantime, Koster is getting hit from all sides.

Ag interests

State agricultural interests, including the Missouri Farm Bureau and the Missouri Agribusiness Association, are encouraging Koster to continue the appeal, arguing that Joyce had only half the facts when she issued her decision.

They want the appeals court to send the case back to her with an order that it be dismissed on grounds that the issue is moot, since the permit expired and the hog farm near Arrow Rock was never constructed. They also are arguing that the DNR and the Clean Water Commission have authority over CAFO permits, not a circuit judge. They say it was improper for the court to impose a buffer around Arrow Rock when no such vehicle to do so exists under state law.

The attorney general’s lawyers have met with officials in Gov. Jay Nixon’s administration and the DNR. Koster has said the administration prefers that he drop the appeal of Joyce’s decision.

Scott Holste, a spokesman for Nixon’s office, said the matter is still under discussion with the DNR and Koster’s office, but that Nixon is not supportive of the appeal. The governor has assured Koster that it is his decision to make and that he will not criticize him if he decides to take on the appeal.

Environmental groups

The Sierra Club, the Roaring River Parks Alliance, the Friends of Arrow Rock and the Missouri Parks Association would like to see Koster drop the appeal and let the two-mile buffer stand. Koster, as a state legislator, introduced legislation that would have created buffers around state parks and historic sites. Though it failed, they think he still supports the concept.

He still does, but there’s more on his plate to consider than before.

“I want to be emphatic about this point,” he said in a phone interview Friday. “I am in favor of deference being paid around state parks, recreational waterways, historic sites and other sites of cultural significance.

“I am not against the buffer zone at Arrow Rock, but how these buffers are created is of critical importance to the state. It’s about who defines how big these buffers are and who decides that is the critical issue to agriculture.’’

Koster points out that Joyce’s original decision called for a 15-mile buffer around Arrow Rock, west of Columbia. That decision, if it had been not been scaled back to a two-mile buffer, would essentially have brought an end to large-scale agribusiness in the state of Missouri because there are so many state parks and historic sites sprinkled across the state.