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Local/state briefs

Permit denied for large hog farm in southeastern Minnesota

ST. PAUL (AP) — The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency said Tuesday it has taken the unusual step of denying denied a permit for a large hog farm proposed for Fillmore County in southeastern Minnesota because of the threat of adding to groundwater nitrate pollution in the geologically porous region.

MPCA Commissioner John Linc Stine said at a news conference that he denied the general permit for Waukon, Iowa-based Catalpa Ag’s proposed 4,890-sow facility near Mabel because of the threat to public health. The piglet-producing operation would have generated over 7 million gallons of manure annually that would be spread on farm fields for fertilizer.

Groundwater nitrate levels in 19 of the county’s 24 townships already exceed the state’s safe drinking water standard of 10 parts per million, he said.

“We typically do not deny feedlot applications,” Stine said, noting that thousands of feedlots now operate across the state.

Denying the permit means there’s no need to decide on requests by project opponents for a full environmental impact statement, Stine said. He recommended that the state Environmental Quality Board authorize a broader, state-funded study of groundwater pollution in the region instead.

Stine also said Catalpa still has the option of starting over and applying for a customized permit known as an individual permit. But he said any future application process would require a more rigorous analysis, with another chance for the public to comment. He said the protections provided by the general permit that Catalpa sought would be insufficient.

Catalpa is owned by the Al Hein farm family near Rochester. Hein said they will now re-apply for the individual permit and cooperate with the proposed study as they seek to diversify beyond crop farming and provide farmers in the area with a cheaper, more natural source of fertilizer.

“I was a little disappointed that we didn’t get the permit but it doesn’t really kill the project,” Hein said.

Two public meetings about the project drew more than 700 people, including opponents concerned about groundwater quality and odors.

Minnesota Health Commissioner Jan Malcom issued a statement supporting Stine’s decision.

“Nitrates in drinking water can cause blue baby syndrome in bottle-fed infants less than 6 months old and may increase the risk of harm for people with certain health conditions,” she said. “Preventing additional problems is far less costly than leaving it to additional private well owners or communities to treat their water for nitrates.”

Troubled Eden Prairie police detective leaves department

EDEN PRAIRIE (AP) — A veteran Eden Prairie police detective whom authorities said falsified a search warrant in a drug case has left the department.

The city’s human resources director told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that Detective Travis Serafin’s last day was Nov. 6, shortly after an admitted drug dealer was released from prison because the officer lied under oath about the warrant.

Authorities said Serafin searched the man’s house in a heroin case in September 2017 and found heroin, fentanyl and other drugs. Serafin found more drugs in a car but didn’t have a warrant to search the car, so he created one afterward.

Serafin had worked for the department since October 2000 and once was named its officer of the year.

McLeod County prosecutors are considering criminal charges. Serafin hasn’t publicly commented.

Man pleads guilty to fatal shotgun shooting on reservation

ST. PAUL (AP) — A man has admitted fatally shooting another man in the face with a shotgun on the Red Lake Indian Reservation.

The U.S. attorney’s office said 18-year-old Michael Whitefeather of Red Lake pleaded guilty Monday to second-degree murder.

Investigators found the body of Anthony Wells on a trail on the reservation on April 28, with three shotgun shells nearby. Whitefeather was arrested May 2. He told investigators he thought Wells was part of a group that had recently shot his brother and assaulted him.

University of Minnesota names first female president

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — University of South Carolina Provost Joan Gabel on Tuesday was named the first female president in the 167-year history of the University of Minnesota.

The school’s governing board voted unanimously to approve a five-year contract for Gabel. She’ll become the university’s 17th president next July 1, earning $640,000 yearly, plus annual $150,000 retirement supplements.

Gabel, 50, was the lone finalist from a pool of 67 applicants to succeed Eric Kaler, who is stepping down as president next year after eight years at the school’s helm. She was one of four people forwarded to full Board of Regents for consideration but one candidate dropped out and two others refused to go forward unless they were going to be the sole finalist.

Gabel was the first female provost at South Carolina and the first female dean of the University of Missouri’s business school. She cast herself as a collaborative, no-nonsense leader and touted efforts to increase campus diversity, find alternative sources of revenue and cultivate ties with the business world.

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