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Saturday, September 25, 2004

Environment - State OK's Randolph County dairy CAFO

"State OK's Randolph County dairy CAFO" is the headline to this story in the Muncie Star-Press. Some quotes:

WINCHESTER - Five weeks after hearing complaints from angry opponents, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management on Friday issued a permit for European immigrant Tony Goltstein's planned 1,650-cow dairy CAFO (concentrated animal feeding operation).

The National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit was issued "because they met all the requirements in the rule," said Tim Method, deputy commissioner of IDEM, in an interview. "They were able to clearly meet the requirements of the rule, so we are obligated to issue the permit. We have no discretion." * * *

Opponents have 15 days to challenge the permit by filing a petition for administrative review with the Office of Environmental Adjudication. OEA was created in 1995 to review IDEM enforcement actions and decisions to issue or deny permits. Challenges are heard by OEA's environmental law judges.

Ivonne Goltstein, Tony's wife, on Friday said: "We worked very hard to accomplish this. We did a lot of things the opponents asked for. It's going to cost us a lot more money to do this project. We worked very hard and waited a very, very long time. We are pretty sure this is going to be a very good CAFO." * * *

Vreba-Hoff Dairy Development, of Wauseon, Ohio, is assisting the Goltsteins and dozens of other European dairy farmers in re-locating to Indiana, Ohio and Michigan. The Goltsteins, doing business as Union-Go Dairy, would be the 12th Vreba-Hoff-affiliated dairy in Indiana, including one in Madison County and one in Henry County. * * *

IDEM's Amy Hartsock said the agency required the Goltsteins to obtain an individual NPDES permit rather than a general NPDES permit, which allowed the agency to impose more conditions. Those include:

  • Construction of a landfill-like liner for the manure storage lagoon consisting of two feet of compacted clay and a PVC liner.
  • Installation of a ground water monitoring system around the storage lagoon.
  • Installation of a perimeter sub-surface drainage system to lower the ground water table under the lagoon.
  • Document, through photographs, continuous engineering oversight during construction of the CAFO.
See also this story from the Richmond Palladium-Item, headlined "IDEM approves megadairy plan."

Posted by Marcia Oddi on September 25, 2004 08:53 AM
Posted to Environmental Issues