By Wally Kennedy

wkennedy@joplinglobe.com

ANDERSON, Mo. — Albert Midoux breathed a sigh of relief when he learned that a Cole County circuit judge’s decision last month halted the construction of large animal farms — known as CAFOs — within 15 miles of Missouri state parks and historic sites.

Midoux’s farm adjoins a farm where four poultry barns capable of holding 234,000 chickens are proposed. But his neighbor’s farm, he says, is within that 15-mile buffer around Big Sugar Creek State Park, east of Pineville.

“I thought the judge’s decision had pretty much stopped construction of these large poultry houses in McDonald County,” he said. “We’ve got too many of them the way it is, and they have already done enough damage to our rivers and streams.”

Then he heard bulldozers.

Midoux’s neighbors, Russell Renner and his son, Steve Renner, began clearing ground to construct the poultry barns about a week ago.

A woman, who identified herself as Mrs. Steve Renner, said permits to start construction had been obtained.

“We have complied with all the rules. They have assured us there was nothing that could go wrong. We have a permit,” she said.

She also said she was unaware of the judge’s ruling. She questioned how the poultry plants in the county, which employ thousands, could operate if local farmers can no longer build chicken houses.

As for Midoux, who has long been a critic of the poultry industry’s impact on water quality, she said, “He gets upset about everything.”

Russell Renner did not respond to a Globe inquiry seeking comment.

Midoux said he contacted the regional office of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources in Springfield and the state office in Jefferson City to find out whether his neighbors had obtained the required permits to construct the chicken houses. He said he did not receive a response.

After the Globe filed a request for information under Missouri’s Sunshine Law, Renee Bungart, a DNR spokeswoman, said the department had not issued a construction permit for the Renner chicken houses. The Renners, she said, obtained a land-disturbance permit from the DNR’s regional office in Springfield.

Gary Murphy, president of poultry operations for Simmons Foods, based in Siloam Springs, Ark., said independent contractors, such as the Renners, must acquire all pertinent permits before they build. He said it was his understanding that the Renners, who will produce chickens under contract for Simmons, had obtained the permits to move forward with construction.