By Wally Kennedy

wkennedy@joplinglobe.com

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster is appealing a judge’s ruling that blocked a proposed hog farm from locating near the historic village of Arrow Rock in central Missouri.

The August 2008 ruling by Cole County Circuit Judge Patricia Joyce created a protective two-mile buffer around state parks and historic sites. The construction and/or expansion of concentrated animal feeding operations, known as CAFOs, within the buffer were prohibited. Also prohibited within the buffer was the spreading of animal wastes from CAFOs.

Koster, in a statement released Thursday, said he filed the appeal because the manner in which the buffer was created is not consistent with established state laws.

Said Koster: “I want to be emphatic about this: I am in favor of the concept of expanded buffer zones around state parks, recreational waterways, historic sites and other sites of cultural significance.

“However, the manner in which these buffers are created is of critical importance to the state. This case raises the question of whether buffer zones are created by the General Assembly, the Department of Natural Resources, or the judiciary. It is imperative we know the answer to this question.”

DNR’s position

Travis Ford, a spokesman for Mark Templeton, director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, said in a telephone interview Thursday that the department does not support the appeal and is not a party to the appeal.

“Our position is that this is completely the attorney general’s position,” Ford said. “He has the legal authority to make this decision and file this action. We are not involved.”

Templeton was appointed to his post by Gov. Jay Nixon, who as attorney general refused to represent the DNR when it was sued over the Arrow Rock hog CAFO. The DNR hired a special attorney to defend the decision to grant a permit to the hog CAFO, which was never built.

The DNR appealed Joyce’s ruling when Doyle Childers was the director of the department. Childers was appointed by former Gov. Matt Blunt.

In the appellate brief, Koster substituted Templeton for Childers as a party. The brief says their legal interests are the same in that the department is in the charge of the director.

The attorney general’s lawyers met more than a month ago with officials in Nixon’s administration and the DNR. Koster has said the administration preferred that he drop the appeal of Joyce’s decision. Scott Holste, a spokesman for Nixon’s office, has said that Nixon was not supportive of the appeal, but that the governor assured Koster that it was his decision to make and that Nixon would not criticize him if he decided to take on the appeal.

Koster’s decision to appeal the ruling was viewed Thursday as a step backward for Missouri’s state parks and historic sites by the Friends of Arrow Rock, the Roaring River Parks Alliance, the Sierra Club and the Missouri Parks Association.

The 53-page appeal was filed Wednesday in the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District. The brief includes intervening appeals by the Missouri Farm Bureau Federation, the Missouri Agribusiness Association, the Missouri Cattlemen’s Association, the Missouri Pork Association, the Missouri Dairy Association and the Missouri Egg Council.

Opposition

Ken Midkiff, spokesman for the Missouri Sierra Club’s water protection program, said Koster is appealing without a client, and he questioned whether Koster will have standing to appeal.

“At this point, he (Koster) does not have a client,” said Midkiff. “The question will be whether Koster has standing in the case. He is not representing anybody.”

Midkiff said the Sierra Club agrees with Judge Joyce’s decision, which declared that the buffer was needed because the DNR was incapable of protecting Missouri’s state parks and historic sites. She specifically cited a permit granted to a 65,600-chicken CAFO within a mile of Roaring River and its state park as an example of the DNR’s inability to uphold its statutory obligation to protect the state’s parks.

Mark Stephenson, a Joplin resident and member of the Roaring River Parks Alliance, on Thursday said: “Of course we are deeply disappointed. Koster is just postponing the inevitable. Missourians do not want their state parks and historical sites negatively impacted by these foul-smelling CAFOs. There are just some places they shouldn’t be.”

Julie Fisher, a member of the Missouri Parks Association and the Friends of Arrow Rock, on Thursday said: “Judge Joyce wisely issued a two-mile buffer around Arrow Rock State Historic Site. Now with the appeal filed by Attorney General Koster, we must continue to fight in order to protect the historic village and the health of its 150,000 annual visitors.”

Ag interests

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

They have said they want the appeals court to send the case back to Joyce 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, not a circuit judge, have authority over CAFO permits. They say it was improper for the court to impose a buffer around Arrow Rock when no such vehicle for doing so exists under state law.