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The case pingponged through the courts for five years, and in the most recent ruling, an appeals court backed the farm. The town then appealed to the state Supreme Court. At a hearing in September, Larson Acres attorney Eric McLeod told the justices that a town could introduce its own water quality regulations, just not as part of the permit-granting process. For example, Magnolia could monitor drinking water for nitrates and then sue the farm if pollution levels rose above certain limits, he said. But Dela Ends, an organic farmer who lives a few miles from Larson Acres, called that logic ridiculous. She said it makes more sense to impose regulations from the beginning, than to wait for a water supply to be polluted and then seek remedies. Similar cases have been filed in Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio and Oklahoma. Two juries in Missouri have handed out multimillion-dollar awards to homeowners who complained of intolerable odors from so-called factory farms.
[Associated
Press;
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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