By Wally Kennedy
wkennedy@joplinglobe.com
EAGLE ROCK, Mo. — An appeal hearing on the operating permit for the Ozbun chicken CAFO near Roaring River State Park has been continued, according the Missouri Administrative Hearing Commission.
The hearing on the concentrated animal feeding operation was to start on Monday but it is now set for the week of June 16-20 in the Truman Building at Jefferson City.
The Ozbun CAFO would house up to 65,600 pullets for George’s Processing, a poultry plant near Cassville. It was granted an operating permit on Aug. 22 by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.
The CAFO is within a mile or so of the river and the state park, a popular tourist destination in Barry County.
Local residents, supported by trout fishermen, environmentalists and tourism groups around the state, have formed the Roaring River Park Alliance to oppose the CAFO and the possible construction of other CAFOS near the state park. A bill by state Rep. Jeff Harris, D-Columbia, proposes a 5-mile CAFO buffer around Missouri’s state park and historic sites.
Similar controversies have erupted with CAFOs proposed near other state property, such as the Arrow Rock and Battle of Athens state historic sites.
Opponents have argued the CAFO will damage water quality in the spring and river and be a drain on tourism.
State regulators say the waste-management system for the Ozbun CAFO has been designed and permitted as a no-discharge operation, which means wastes are contained and stored until proper land application can take place.
Jim Riedel, a member of the Roaring River Park Alliance, said the group recently raised several hundred dollars to help pay legal fees associated with the appeal of the permit. The group has hired attorney John Price, of Springfield, to represent them. The alliance raised money during the opening weekend of trout season at Roaring River State Park on March 1-2.
Michelle and Rodney Ozbun, owners of the CAFO, have retained Michael Schmid, an associate in the firm of Schreimann, Rackers, Francka & Blunt in Jefferson City, to represent them.
Commission
The Missouri Administrative Hearing Commission, part of the executive branch of state government, is a neutral administrative tribunal that functions as a court-like or quasi-judicial entity to resolve conflicts involving permits and other contested issues in Missouri.
