Jennifer Bjorhus reported last week at the Minneapolis Star-Tribune Online that, “A Fillmore County farmer who sought to build the county’s largest animal feedlot has withdrawn his permit application in the face of sustained local opposition, marking the end of the road for the proposed Catalpa Ag hog farm.

“State pollution officials said Monday that Al Hein informed them of his decision via e-mail, and that it terminates his application.

“Hein, the majority holder in Catalpa Ag, wanted to build a piglet operation with nearly 5,000 pigs on his farm near Mabel, Minn., in southeastern Minnesota. The operation would have been managed by Iowa-based Waukon Feed Ranch.”

The Star-Tribune article noted that, “The feedlot ignited unusual local alarm, drawing large crowds at two informational meetings held by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) and a record number of comments during the agency’s public-comment period. Area residents and others expressed concern that the 7.3 million gallons of liquid manure the pigs would produce each year would threaten their groundwater. They pressed the MPCA to require a full environmental review of the proposal and said that southeastern Minnesota, with its porous karst geography, was the wrong place for the large operation.

“Manure is a source of nitrate, a form of chemical salt that can cause health problems in drinking water, and an estimated 15 percent of the private wells in Fillmore County exceed the safe drinking water standard for nitrate.

“In December, the MPCA took the rare step of denying Hein’s application for a general permit, citing concerns that the karst geology was too sensitive to contamination.”

Ms. Bjorhus pointed out that, “Hein applied again, this time for an individual permit, a customized document that would have likely included additional protections for water resources. Most of the state’s 1,300 state-permitted feedlots are covered under general permits, according to the MPCA.

“Hein did not respond Monday to a request for comment, and MPCA officials declined to discuss what prompted his decision.”

DTN writer Todd Neeley reported yesterday that, “The 60-day public comment period for the newly proposed waters of the United States, or WOTUS, rule launched Thursday with the EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers publishing the rule in the Federal Register.

“The new rule moves forward while the 2015 rule under the Obama administration remains in legal limbo and essentially in effect in 22 states.

“EPA and the Army Corps are on track to finalize the new rule by September, which is likely to trigger a new round of legal challenges.”

Mr. Neeley explained that, “The publication of the new rule already has drawn praise and outrage from a number of interest groups. The public comment period closes April 15.

“In a statement to DTN, American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall said the group supports the proposal.

“‘Today’s release of a new draft Clean Water Rule is a major step toward fair and understandable water regulation on America’s farms and ranches and other working lands,’ Duvall said. ‘We haven’t yet examined every word of today’s proposal, but even a quick look shows many of the previous rule’s worst problems are on their way out.'”

Bloomberg writers Lydia Mulvany and Deena Shanker reported yesterday that, “Monsanto Co. has been sued by thousands of farmers and others who blame their cancers on its massively popular Roundup weedkiller. Now Germany’s Bayer AG, which bought the agriculture giant last year, faces a claim that it deceived home gardeners about Roundup’s impact on their gut bacteria and their health.

“The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in federal court in Kansas City, Missouri, claims that labels on products such as Roundup’s Weed & Grass Killer falsely assured consumers that they target an enzyme not found ‘in people or pets.’

“According to the suit — which names three consumers as plaintiffs seeking unspecified monetary damages and class action status — Roundup’s active ingredient glyphosate attacks an enzyme also found in the beneficial intestinal bacteria of humans and some animals.”

The Bloomberg writers noted that, “The Roundup products at issue are distributed by Scotts Miracle-Gro, which is also named as a defendant. Two other suits, in Wisconsin and Washington, D.C., are based on similar arguments but aren’t class actions.

“Daniel Childs, a spokesman for Bayer, said in an emailed statement that the lawsuit is without merit and that the company ‘looks forward to defending the case on the merits.’ A similar suit filed by the same lawyers in Wisconsin was denied class certification because they failed to prove the intended class members had even seen the labels, Bayer said.”

Yesterday’s article also stated that, “In August, a jury in a California state court awarded $289 million in damages, later reduced to $78 million, to Dewayne Lee Johnson, a former school groundskeeper who claimed Roundup significantly contributed to his terminal non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The company’s share price plunged, erasing $16 billion in market value in a week.

“Bayer has said that U.S. courts will ultimately find that glyphosate isn’t responsible for Johnson’s cancer. Monsanto has said for decades that glyphosate is safe.”

Reuters writer Humeyra Pamuk reported yesterday that, “U.S. farmers now have until Feb. 14 to apply for federal aid designed to offset the impact of retaliatory Chinese tariffs on American crops, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Monday, after delays caused by the month-long government shutdown.

“The previous deadline for the aid program, officially known as the Market Facilitation Program (MFP), was Jan. 15. But a partial 35-day government shutdown that ended last Friday had delayed the application and payment processes for the aid.

“‘If you are a farmer or rancher whose commodities have been directly impacted by tariffs, you now have until February 14 to submit your application,’ USDA said in a tweet.”

The Reuters article explained that, “The Trump administration last year pledged up to $12 billion in aid to help offset some of the losses for crops hit by retaliatory Chinese tariffs imposed in response to Washington’s tariffs on Chinese goods.

“A USDA spokesperson on Monday said the department has as of Monday paid out a total of $5.94 billion to farmers in trade aid, with the top five commodities that received aid being soybeans, corn, wheat, dairy and sorghum.

“The top five states that received aid were listed as Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota and Nebraska.”