Groundwater issues will be decided where 30,000-cow facility is proposed

By COOKSON BEECHER
Capital Press

The lawsuit targeting a proposed 30,000-cow feedlot to be built in Franklin County, Wash., will be heard in that county instead of in Thurston County Superior Court in Olympia, a judge ruled Tuesday, Sept. 8.

The lawsuit was filed in Thurston County on June 30 by Franklin County dryland wheat farmer Scott Collin; Five Corners Family Farmers, a group of dryland farmers in the county; and two environmental groups -- the Center for Environmental Law and Policy and the Sierra Club.

The defendants are Easterday Ranches, Washington state and the state's Ecology Department.

The plaintiffs want to stop the feedlot from going forward without first obtaining a groundwater permit for the full amount of drinking water the cows will need.

The defendants say they have the necessary water rights and permits.

Janette Brimmer, an attorney with Earthjustice who is representing the dryland farmers in the case, said the overarching goal of the lawsuit is to get clarity on the state's controversial stock-watering exemption.

The Washington Cattlemen's Association and the Columbia-Snake River Irrigators Association have asked to be interveners in the case. But that decision will be made when the case is moved to Franklin County, which is expected to happen no later than November.

In an interview with Capital Press shortly after the decision, dryland wheat farmer Collin, who serves as secretary of Five Corners Family Farmers, said he was surprised that the location was changed to Franklin County.

"It is so much more of a statewide issue," he said.

Even so, he said, he thinks he and the other plaintiffs will get a fair hearing either way.

"I think justice will prevail in the end," he said.

Jack Field, executive vice president of the Washington Cattlemen's Association, told Capital Press he was pleased that the case will be heard in Franklin County, pointing out that it should be good for all of the livestock interests that have filed, or that are planning on filing, to request intervener status.

Both Field and Darryll Olsen, board representative for the irrigators' association, said they're optimistic that their groups will be granted intervener status.

"I think this case has the potential to have long-lasting impacts on the entire industry," Field said. "That's why the Washington Cattlemen's Association has filed its request to intervene."

Earthjustice attorney Brimmer said the plaintiffs will move for summary judgment, which means there would be no trial.

No decision on that has been made yet.

In a Sept. 8 interview with Capital Press, Cody Easterday said he was obviously pleased that the court location had been changed.

Although actual construction hasn't begun on the site, Easterday said, Easterday Ranches does have some cattle on the site.

Staff writer Cookson Beecher is based in Sedro-Woolley, Wash. E-mail: cbeecher@capitalpress.com.