DNR proving itself to be worst ever

DNR proving itself to be worst ever
By KEN MIDKIFF
Published Friday, March 7, 2008
(http://archive.columbiatribune.com/2008/mar/20080307comm003.asp)

This is the worst Department of Natural Resources ever. Consider:

Construction and/or operating permits were granted to concentrated animal feeding operations adjacent to or near to state parks and historic sites - Roaring River, Arrow Rock and the Battle of Athens - in spite of the many concerns expressed by those who fear that the spring at Roaring River might be subjected to pollution and the very real fear that stink will make Arrow Rock and the Battle of Athens site undesirable places to visit. DNR now finds itself threatening the existence of state parks instead of obeying its mandate to protect them. DNR has forgotten state parks belong to us all and are in everyone’s backyard.

After Moark/Land O’ Lakes attempted to site a massive egg-laying operation - 3.2 million hens - in Kansas, then Oklahoma, and were rejected by the residents and county commissions in those states, they got approval from DNR to expand their facilities in this state, even though Moark/Land O’ Lakes was under investigation for questionable practices, including animal abuse. There was one hook: The waste had to be transported to Kansas and Oklahoma. Those states were not real happy about this deal, complaining that Missouri gets the benefits and they get the … excrement.

The Doe Run Resource Co., with lead mining and smelting operations in southeast Missouri, is infamous for being Missouri’s largest polluter and poisoning children in the town of Herculaneum. Last year, the company failed to file required reports. DNR proposes to forgive the entire matter if $5,000 is "donated" to a school district. In the certified letter, DNR also noted that the company has until Monday to respond with a counter offer. Ira Rennert - Doe Run’s multibillionaire owner - probably has $5,000 in pocket change.

A settlement agreement, negotiated by AmerenUE with the state over the easily avoided but catastrophic failure of the Taum Sauk reservoir, contains a curious section: AmerenUE appears to be giving away what it does not possess. Rather than making concessions about Church Mountain, which it does own, AmerenUE granted to the state the "right" to build an extension of the Katy Trail to Kansas City. One little problem: AmerenUE does not own the rail line and has very limited rights.

The Missouri Air Conservation Commission (MACC), attempting to make an end run around the Open Meetings and Records Law, declared that its get-together on March 26 was a tour, not a meeting. After a modest tussle, and a defensive and somewhat confusing Op-Ed by DNR Director Doyle Childers, DNR/MACC canceled the March 26 tour, meeting or whatever it was, citing schedule conflicts.

DNR seems hell-bent on allowing Union Pacific to tear down the Boonville Lift Bridge in spite of the contract clearly stating that the bridge should be kept in place for future transportation needs. No one is proposing that it be used for a hiking/biking trail, only that it be left in place. By advocating for destruction, DNR places the entire Katy Trail at risk.

After being ordered by a court to comply with the 1972 Federal Clean Water Act, DNR recommended that all waters of the state be capable of supporting "whole-body contact" or, as the act phrases it, "recreation in and on the water." After complying with the court order, DNR then immediately proceeded to get as many streams as possible removed from that designation. Fortunately, cooler heads at the Environmental Protection Agency ruled that more than 100 of the streams proposed to be removed should remain there. Undeterred, DNR is now engaged in funding what is called "use-attainability analysis" to remove even more streams from the designation of whole-body contact so that sewage treatment plants may continue discharging without doing anything differently. If DNR prevails, folks will be splashing around in bacteria-laden waters.

After a working group appointed by DNR voted that DNR should comply with federal law and designate all waters of the state - not just classified ones - as supportive of aquatic life and recreation in and on the water, that working group has never met again.

It is clear from the examples cited above - and many more across this state - that DNR is protecting big business and polluters, not preventing pollution or protecting the rest of us. Previous DNR directors have told me they were expected to report to the governor when something controversial was being considered. But they also told me that the governor did not call the shots. The initiative was always with the DNR director, not the governor.

Not so with the current governor and DNR director. It’s sort of like an organ grinder and a monkey. The governor plays the tune, and the director dances.

Don’t take my word for it. From a woman in West Plains whose well was contaminated by a large dairy across the road as reported in the West Plains Daily Quill: "I tried for nearly a month to get the DNR to come to my house, with no response," she said. She made many phone calls and at one time spoke to DNR Director Doyle Childers personally but felt she was ignored until she got Attorney General Jay Nixon on the line and explained her situation, she said. "Within an hour, DNR called," and an investigator came the next day, she said.