Let's shout out a big THANK YOU! to Wally Taylor and his noble assistant
(& wife) Pam.

BW


> Court upholds buffer agreement
> By ASSOCIATED PRESS
>
> December 3, 2004
> The Iowa Supreme Court today upheld an agreement requiring a 200-foot
> buffer
> strip between manure storage facilities and a popular trout stream, ruling
> against an Allamakee County hog farmer.
>
> The court said spreading manure in the buffer strip "clearly contravenes
> the
> manifest purpose of requiring a buffer strip."
>
> The decision came in a lawsuit filed by the Sierra Club and the Hawkeye
> Fly
> Fishing Association against Wayne Weber, who had contracted with Murphy
> and
> Stoecker Farms Inc. to build a three-building, 3,300-head hog confinement
> operation on company land near French Creek.
> The farm began operating in 1998. A year later, the Sierra Club and
> neighbors sued Weber, claiming the farm was a nuisance.
>
> In settling the claims in 2002, the two sides agreed to a 200-foot buffer
> strip containing deep-rooted prairie grass to protect the creek from the
> potential of manure runoff.
>
> But Weber spread manure on the land intended to serve as a buffer. He
> argued
> that the agreement prohibited spreading manure from the confinement, but
> not
> from other sources.
> The conservation groups argued that the intent was to ban the application
> of
> manure to the buffer strip.
>
> While the high court agreed, it did grant Weber some flexibility on the
> type
> of prairie grass grown in the buffer strip and said the grass may be cut
> for
> hay, as long as the roots remain in place.
>
> Buffer strips with deep-rooted grasses are put in place to prevent manure
> runoff from contaminating nearby waterways. Manure storage facilities at
> factory hog confinements can contain thousands of gallons of liquid hog
> manure.
>
>
> Tarah Heinzen
> Sierra Club Conservation Organizer
> 3839 Merle Hay Road, Suite 280
> Des Moines, IA 50310
> (515) 251-3995
> [log in to unmask]
>
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>

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