Environmental group challenging permit for 25,000-cow North Dakota dairy

HILLSBORO, N.D. (North Dakota Monitor) – A North Dakota environmental group has filed a lawsuit over a giant dairy under construction in Traill County.

The Dakota Resource Council filed the suit against the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality and Riverview ND LLP in Traill and Burleigh counties.

The Department of Environmental Quality in September approved a permit to Minnesota-based Riverview for a 25,000-cow milking operation southeast of Hillsboro. Crews began moving dirt at the site for what Riverview calls the Herberg Dairy near the Red River earlier this month.

“Dairies the size of Riverview’s Herberg Dairy create enormous amounts of wastes that contain pollutants such as nitrogen, phosphorus, bacteria, pathogens, sediments, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, salts, and metals,” the lawsuit says. “When discharged to waters, these pollutants pose serious threats to the health and wellbeing of nearby communities and ecosystems.”

The Herberg Dairy and another 12,500-cow Riverview dairy under construction north of Wahpeton, known as the Abercrombie Dairy, could quadruple the number of dairy cows in the state. North Dakota’s dairy industry has been dwindling for decades.

The Dakota Resource Council on Oct. 9 also filed a petition asking the Department of Environmental Quality to reconsider its decision to issue the permit for the Herberg Dairy. The petition cited the agency’s failure to consider Riverview’s plans to install a stormwater drain and a drainage system, according to the court document.

Riverview, which operates several large dairies in western Minnesota, issued a statement last week on the permit reconsideration.

“The permits for our North Dakota dairy farms were approved after careful, science-based reviews by North Dakota regulators, and our dairies are designed and operated to meet or exceed environmental standards,” the statement said. “We’ll continue to listen, learn, and work closely with the community to ensure our dairy farms support local families, create jobs, and contribute positively to the region.”

Drainage from the dairies also is the topic of another challenge to the projects.

Three North Dakota residents and a member of the Manitoba Eco-Network are disputing a decision by the North Dakota Department of Water Resources. The agency ruled that drainage ditches at the Riverview sites in Richland and Traill counties do not qualify as drains that would need a state permit.

The citizens contend the drainage ditches authorized by the state have the potential to pollute the Red River.

A preconference hearing before an administrative law judge has been scheduled for Friday in that case.

Manitoba environmentalists and the provincial government have taken an interest in the dairies because the Red River flows north into Lake Winnipeg, a major recreational and commercial fishing resource.

Manitoba announced earlier this month that the International Joint Commission has directed its International Red River Watershed Board to review permits related to the dairy operations.

The Dakota Resource Council filed a lawsuit earlier this year seeking to have the Abercrombie permit revoked. A judge ruled that attorneys for the Dakota Resource Council did not properly serve the Department of Environmental Quality and dismissed the suit.

The Dakota Resource Council has a different attorney in the suit filed Friday. The lawsuit lists attorneys from Washington, D.C.-based Food and Water Watch and the Wild and Scenic Law Center in Oregon. It also lists Bismarck attorney Sarah Vogel, a former North Dakota agriculture commissioner.

By Jeff Beach.