State lawsuit targets stench from dairy farm

The state of Minnesota filed suit Friday against a northwestern Minnesota dairy feedlot producing such offensive odors that nearby residents occasionally have evacuated their homes.

The lawsuit, filed jointly in Marshall County District Court by the attorney general's office and the Pollution Control Agency, contends Excel Dairy's operation is a public nuisance and repeatedly has violated state air-quality standards for hydrogen sulfide, a byproduct of decomposing manure that can cause headaches, nausea, vomiting and weakness.

The lawsuit also asks the court to order the operator to comply immediately with its permits and environmental-protection laws.

A representative for The Dairy Dozen, which operates Excel Dairy, could not be reached for comment. "Minnesotans value their privacy and their right to be let alone on their own land," Attorney General Lori Swanson said in a statement. "Neighbors shouldn't be driven from their homes because a feedlot fails to comply with basic regulations."

With hydrogen sulfide at high levels, the state called nearby residents two weeks ago and recommended they evacuate their homes. In affidavits accompanying the lawsuit, several neighbors noted earlier evacuations and described overpowering conditions that they say have affected their health.

"It's just a shame that people have to go through this," said Julie Jansen, rural communities organizer for Clean Water Action Alliance.

As part of its operating permit, the large dairy near Thief River Falls must maintain a thick crust on its manure storage basins and must apply chopped straw on them when that doesn't happen naturally.

But the lawsuit alleges Excel Dairy has failed to establish and maintain a crust on those basins. On at least one of them, it said aerators were installed that actually prevent a crust from being formed.

MPCA Commissioner Brad Moore said the agency has worked with Excel for months, but the operators haven't taken even the most basic measures to control the odor.

Besides requiring the dairy to comply with permits and laws, the lawsuit asks the court to hold a hearing July 1 to declare the feedlot a public nuisance and to order it to pay an appropriate civil penalty.