Case from 2012

Jordan J. Hemaidan, a lawyer at the Madison firm of Michael Best and Friedrich who represents a dairy operation that is the focus of one lawsuit, referred a request for comment to his client. The client, Kinnard Farms, said in a statement that it views the panel's action as "purely procedural development, and looks forward to the case moving toward an efficient and clear resolution.”

One of the lawsuits challenges a DNR decision to allow Kinnard to expand in Kewaunee County, an area plagued by manure-contaminated drinking water.

The case began in 2012 as an appeal by a handful of citizens over DNR’s approval of a permit for the feedlot to nearly double in size to more than 6,200 cows, a herd conservation groups estimated would generate 70 million gallons of manure annually.

Jeffrey Boldt, an administrative law judge who heard the initial challenge, said “massive regulatory failure” had caused the widespread drinking water contamination in that area.

Boldt ordered the DNR to add to Kinnard’s permit a limit on the number of animals and a requirement for groundwater monitoring so pollutants could be detected before they reached more drinking water.