Winona County feedlot sues nonprofit members, public officials over expansion denial

Stymied in their pursuit of an expansion, the owners of the largest feedlot in Winona County have taken the unusual step of suing a handful of individual opponents and public officials for lost income.

Daley Farm of Lewiston, a family-owned dairy operation, sued six members of the nonprofit advocacy group Land Stewardship Project, which had lobbied against the expansion, and three County Board members, saying they conspired to stack the vote against the business.

The lawsuit is the latest escalation in a yearslong legal fight over the proposed expansion, but it is the first filed against individual members of the public and the County Board.

Sean Carroll, spokesman for Land Stewardship Project, said the suit is a bullying tactic, designed to threaten anyone else from speaking out against the expansion.

"This is meant to intimidate people, to silence people," he said. "They couldn't get what they want through the democratic process, so now they're suing Land Stewardship Project; they're suing individual community members, and they're suing their neighbors."

Twenty-five years ago, Winona County set a limit on feedlots at 1,500 animal units. Daley Farm, which is more than 160 years old, was grandfathered in and has been allowed to keep just fewer than 2,000 animal units. The family wanted to triple the operation and started applying for state and local permits in 2017 to expand to just fewer than 6,000.

The expansion would allow the farm to produce and sell about 40 million more pounds of milk a year — mostly to the Land O'Lakes cooperative — and earn an additional $3 million in livestock sales, according to the farm's estimates.

Environmental groups and neighbors worried about water pollution opposed the plan.

There is strong concern over large feedlots in southeastern Minnesota because of the area's karst topography. The unusually porous rock allows manure applied to fields for fertilizer to easily contaminate wells and groundwater with nitrate, which can be toxic and even deadly for infants. The region suffers from generally higher nitrate levels, according to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

In July, more than 2,500 dead trout were found floating and washed up along Rush Creek in Lewiston. It was the area's third major fish kill since 2015 — all suspected by state investigators to be caused by contaminated agricultural runoff.

There are 471 registered feedlots in Winona County — Daley Farm is the only one with more than 1,500 animal units. The expansion would make the farm one of the largest dairy operations in the state.

To expand, the Daleys would need a variance — an exception to the animal cap — from the county's Board of Adjustment.

The lawsuit centers on the way Winona County Board members chose three of the five members of that board, who have all since left.

The farm argues that six members of Land Stewardship Project — Cherie Hales, Johanna Rupprecht, Doug Nopar, Bobby King, Barb Sogn-Frank and Kelley Stanage — emailed County Board members asking them to name Hales to an open seat on the board. With her and two other Land Stewardship Project members who were already on the board, they would be able to vote down the expansion. County Board members Marie Kovecsi, Chris Meyer, and Greg Olson followed through and appointed Hales.

The lawsuit argues that the group asked state regulators to extend a public comment period over a permitting matter regarding the expansion in order to ensure that the Board of Adjustment wouldn't hear the matter until Hales was seated.

In 2019, the board denied the variance — with Hales and the other two members of Land Stewardship voting against it.

The six Land Stewardship members and three County Board members conspired to deprive the Daleys "of their fundamental right to a fair hearing on their variance application," the lawsuit argues.

"Land Stewardship Project was free to advocate at the top of its lungs in opposition to Daley Farm's project," owner Ben Daley said in a statement. "But Land Stewardship Project and its allies on the county board crossed an important line when they manipulated the membership of the board ahead of the hearing to ensure the variance would be denied."

The farm must expand to remain viable for future generations, Daley said. He called the county's animal unit cap arbitrary and said his family could always spread the same number of animals out over more locations. But, he said, that would only lead to "more traffic, more wear on local roads and more greenhouse gas emissions."

The Daleys seek more than $50,000 in damages, saying they lost income because of the denial.

The lawsuit is "ridiculous," said lawyer Paul Reuvers, who represents the three County Board members.

"This is why it's hard to get good people to serve in government, facing lawsuits like this," he said. "The board appointed people to apply the law. It's not surprising a variance would be denied when they're trying to basically quadruple the ordinance."

Reuvers filed a motion to dismiss the case, which is scheduled to be heard March 30.

The Land Stewardship Project members were simply engaging in democracy — asking commissioners to appoint like-minded people to a board, Carroll said.

"We have a First Amendment right to speak out to our government, a right to join groups that share our values," he said.

The Board of Adjustment has twice denied the expansion. The farm successfully appealed the first decision. An appeal on the second decision is pending.