Factory farms operators squared off against state environmental regulators in court once more as a coalition of Michigan farmers and agricultural industry groups sought to challenge a number of new environmental permit conditions intended to protect the state’s waterways.
Taking the stand before Judge Richard Garcia in Ingham County’s 30th Circuit Court on Monday, counsel for the agricultural groups argued with attorneys for the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, the Environmental Law and Policy Center and Flow Water Advocates on whether EGLE made an impartial decision by including restrictions within the general permit that were previously removed by an administrative law judge.
EGLE Director Phil Roos issued his final opinion in October, laying out new regulations for concentrated animal feeding operations, including a ban on applying animal waste as fertilizer on snow-covered ground, and a blanket ban on applying waste to the land in January, February and most of March. Factory farms are also barred from giving away animal waste during the winter…