News

South Dakota dairy drops permit request

A developer has withdrawn a request for a water permit to build a 7,000-cow dairy farm near Mitchell, South Dakota. The state Water Management Board had granted the permit last year but a state circuit judge remanded the permit back to the Board saying it did not adequately consider the effect it would have on the underground aquifer. The Water Board then scheduled a hearing on the permit for next week in Pierre.

Earlier this month a judge ordered Hanson County to cancel a zoning permit it had issued for the farm in 2007 because substantial work on the project had not been completed within two years as required by county ordinance.

The Water Board hearing scheduled for next week has been cancelled. The dairy can reapply for the permit if it so chooses.