01/02/08 ICA, IDA sue Jerome County commissioners

The Idaho Dairymen's Association and the Idaho Cattle Association say that Jerome County Commissioners broke several state laws by extending an 'interim ordinance' that blocks siting of livestock confinement operations. Idaho Cattle Association executive vice president Josh Tewalt says the commissioners were wrong in November to vote for the six month extension of an emergency moratorium on CAFO permits. TEWALT "There's no doubt as to what their intentions were and you can call it what you want, an interim ordinance or whatever. At the end of the day it's another emergency moratorium and they didn't follow proper procedure in putting it in place." The lawsuit filed last week alleges that the commissioners and the planning and zoning commission failed to hold public hearings and the interim ordinance merely extends a previous moratorium while state law says there should be one year between moratoriums that are exactly the same. Tewalt is hopeful that the Jerome County Commissioners will sit down and talk with cattlemen and dairy operators about proposed CAFO regulations. Beef cattle and dairy combined had 2.5 billion dollars in direct cash receipts last year. Jerome County has approximately 180 thousand head of dairy and beef cattle, ranking it third in Idaho for cow numbers. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott