"The people of Hendricks, Minn., thought they had won the feedlot war two years ago when they sued to stop a mega-dairy slated for a hilltop just across the border in South Dakota.

They feared that if the farm’s huge manure lagoons ever sprang a leak, the waste would enter a nearby stream and run straight down into Lake Hendricks, a civic gem they just rescued from years of pollution.

But now, for a second time, county officials in South Dakota granted a permit for the 4,000-cow feedlot. And opponents find themselves up against not just the leaders of Brookings County and a big dairy business operator, but also the state’s governor — an enterprising Republican who is courting dairy farmers from California and elsewhere with the promise of plentiful water, low taxes and light regulation."

Jennifer Bjorhus reports for the Minneapolis Star Tribune December 25, 2016. [2]