EPA makes surprise visits to Viola, Altura farms; Finstad cries foul

Nov. 9—ALTURA, Minn. — When Bob Schell got word last week that a representative of the federal Environmental Protection Agency had arrived at his beef farm just outside of Altura he was surprised and upset.

The visit was somewhat unprecedented.

Schell wasn't the only one. EPA investigators also visited Shea Dairy near Viola on Nov. 2, 2023, and owners there also expressed surprise at the unannounced inspection.

The EPA noted the ongoing issue of high nitrate levels in some private wells, and is ordering the state to address the problem.

In a letter dated Nov. 3, 2023, the EPA notified the state of Minnesota that it has 30 days to submit a timeframe and work plan to help affected well owners. That plan must provide education and outreach as well as alternative drinking water to residents with water above the maximum contaminant level — 10 mg/L or 10 parts per million — for nitrates in groundwater from their private wells.

In Southeast Minnesota, contaminated groundwater is a result of the karst geology that dominates the region with sinkholes. Porous rock delivers water and contaminants to flowing aquifers. The karst geology, combined with the region's row crop agriculture, puts groundwater at risk, according to the Minnesota Department of Health.

MDH also notes that nitrate concentrations of 10 ppm or more can cause adverse health effects in babies 6 months old or younger.

The EPA's request comes after an

April 2023 emergency petition filed by 11 groups,

including the Twin Cities-based Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy. That petition asks the EPA to act under the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974, though the EPA itself notes that the SDWA does not apply to private wells that serve fewer than 25 individuals.

The EPA's order is focused on the eight counties of Southeast Minnesota — Dodge, Fillmore, Goodhue, Houston, Mower, Olmsted, Wabasha and Winona — that represent what the EPA calls the "karst region." The federal agency added that if the state does not comply, the agency will be forced to implement its own emergency enforcement authority.

"While this letter is largely focused on addressing immediate health concerns regarding nitrate contamination in drinking water in the Karst Region, Minnesota must also develop and implement a long-term solution to achieve reductions in nitrate concentrations in drinking water supplies," the letter order said. "Developing a complete understanding of potential sources of nitrate contamination is an important immediate step for the state. A risk analysis of current and future nitrate contamination of the impacted groundwater will be critical for determining long-term solutions, and such analysis should incorporate the latest science and technologies."

"I've never seen the EPA come and inspect farms in the 11 years I've been with the county," said Martin Larsen, Olmsted County conservation technician.

Larsen's counterpart in Winona County agreed. Carly McGinty, Winona County's feedlot officer, said, "It was very surprising to me. The last time the EPA has been to Minnesota for feedlots, it's been over 10 years."

McGinty said in Winona County, the EPA and MPCA first asked to visit a dairy near Altura, but when the dairy's owner was not at home, they moved to a neighboring beef farm. Both farms — JFK Dairy and Schell Pine Grove Farm — are well below the 1,000 animal unit limit that requires a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit, which is governed by the EPA.

Neither farm, she said, has been cited for any violations within the past several years.

Larsen added that while he was not present, he talked to the owner at Shea Dairy, who said he spent three hours with inspectors on his property.

Reached via phone, Tom Shea said he had no further comment beyond what he'd said to Larsen.

However, in an email obtained by the Post Bulletin, Sharmin Syed of the EPA said the agency often acts in conjunction with state agencies, and that the inspections were being carried out under authority granted by the Clean Water Act.

Syed added that the inspection reports, once complete, will be available on the EPA's website. No reports were currently available as of Nov. 9, 2023.

The action by the EPA has lawmakers in and from Minnesota crying foul.

U.S. Rep. Brad Finstad, MN-1, sent a Nov. 7, 2023, letter to the EPA referring to the April 2023 petition as being sent by "several organizations with a track record of anti-agriculture environmental activism." That petition, he noted, asks the EPA to issue orders that "prohibit concentrated feeding operations (CAFOs) from expanding or constructing new operations."

"Within six months of the dangerous and non-science-based petition, EPA inspectors arrived unannounced on the land of Minnesota family farmers, interrogating them and inspecting their farms over the course of several hours and in the midst of peak harvest season," Finstad said.

Finstad noted that because at least one of the sites visited did not require an NPDES permit, the landowner was within their rights to require the EPA to leave the premises and seek a court order.

He continued by asking the EPA to respond to questions about the justification to "conduct an unannounced inspection," and to provide transparency and "rebuild trust with Minnesota farmers" related to any future inspections and the April petition.

Both state Rep. Steve Jacob, R-Altura, and state Sen. Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa, have said it is "troubling the EPA has demanded the State supersede the environmental work being performed by local governments."

Drazkowski added that the repercussions of the inspections will end up being paid for by taxpayers. With the EPA estimating more than 9,200 people getting their water from wells with nitrate levels above 10 ppm in the karst region, the cost to the state for outreach and alternatives for clean drinking water could be significant. Furthermore, he said family farmers will likely face more burdensome regulations as fallout from this action.

That, he said, is not fair. "Farming practices with livestock and row croppers has changed dramatically, and they continue to fine-tune the precision of their environmental efforts."

The Post Bulletin reached out multiple times with phone calls and via emails to four members of the EPA listed as contacts with the matter, including the inspector who visited area farms. None have responded.

Larsen said the more shallow aquifers — those closer to the surface — can show a difference in nitrate levels due to a change in farming practices in as little as five years. He pointed to his own well where — when he bought the land and changed how it was farmed — nitrate levels went from 12 ppm to consistent readings between 3-4 ppm in a few years.

For the deeper aquifers, he said, the timescale is measured in decades, 50 or 60 years.

The problems we see today, he said, coincide with the advent of commercial fertilizers, which were — and remain — unregulated in their application. Meanwhile, biological fertilizer — manure from dairy farms and hog farms — is highly regulated by the MPCA and tracked by farmers who must provide records of manure application to feedlot officers upon request.

Larsen said there is a reason environmental activism is focused on feedlots rather than row crop farmer who apply nitrates to the ground. "It would be political suicide for anyone who tries to do that."

He added that it would be scientifically difficult to write a law to put limits on commercial fertilizer since that law would need to take into account different soil profiles and other variables.

"I think there is room to start looking at the amount of commercial fertilizer that is applied to corn acres," he said. Corn and soybeans, he said, do not help fix the nitrate problem, where alfalfa pulls nitrates from the soil and actually reduces nitrates and the potential for runoff.

For its part, MCEA is glad to see progress on the drinking water issue for impacted wells in the karst region.

In a letter linked to a fundraising email, the organization notes, the EPA has "put Minnesota on formal notice that it needs to work across state agencies to urgently address the nitrate-contaminated drinking water crisis threatening the karst region in southeastern Minnesota and provide safe, alternative drinking water for impacted residents."

In the same letter, MCEA director of strategic litigation Leigh Currie said, "It's significant that this is addressed to multiple agencies because this problem calls for a 'one Minnesota solution.' We know what causes this pollution. It's time for Minnesota's agricultural lobby and the Department of Agriculture to come to the table and agree to real solutions to eliminate this public health threat."

However, Lucas Sjostrom, executive director with Minnesota Milk, said MCEA and other environmental groups do not want to work with farmers to create better practices — a process that has been happening for decades to help build soil health and ensure cleaner waters — but instead those groups are only interested in suing.

"They don't understand the science — both biological and social — to fix this," Sjostrom said. "They are funded to litigate."

He noted that the email sent from MCEA did not propose any course of action or alternative farming practice. Instead, it announced its win and asked for money with a link to a donation page to fund further litigation.

Sjostrom said the problem with nitrates does not come from large, highly regulated feedlots, but more often from small operations that don't have the resources to maintain proper water quality practices.

He added that among the wells that draw water with nitrates above 10 ppm, the vast majority are older wells that do not meet current standards.

Sjostrom said he'd be glad to have the EPA come visit Minnesota more often if it wants to work with farmers to find practices that will help keep water clean. But, he added, surprise inspections during the harvest season are not the best way to get on farmers' good sides.