Wednesday, April 7, 2010

MO Court Reverses Hog Farm Decision

Missouri court overturns ruling in hog farm case
By CHRIS BLANK
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.

A Missouri appeals court on Tuesday overturned a ruling that blocked a proposed hog farm from expanding near Arrow Rock.

A Cole County judge blocked the farm from expanding so near the historic central Missouri village, but a three-judge panel of the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District dismissed the case because the permit required to expand the farm expired more than a year ago.

The Kansas City-based appeals court also ordered opponents of the farm expansion to pay court costs.

The appeals court also raised several other concerns about Joyce's ruling that it said would also could have been grounds to overturn her decision.

One was that the initial lawsuit was filed only against the Department of Natural Resources and did not include Gessling, who would have been affected the outcome. Requests to join the case by the Missouri Farm Bureau and Missouri Cattlemen's Association also were denied. Read More

One of the biggest issues with this case was the fact that the judge placed a boundary of random size around this town where livestock production would be severely restricted. This was regardless of whether or not all environmental regulations had been met. This is a perfect example of judicial activism. It’s an extremely dangerous thing to let happen because there is no recourse at the ballot box. Thankfully, better trained legal minds reversed this decision.

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