Following a motion to compel hearing last Monday, the Missouri Clean Water Commission was required to supply Friends of Responsible Agriculture with copies of handwritten notes taken during tours of two Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs).
Plans for a 10,000 hog CAFO proposed for Kingdom City are up in the air as FORAG, who is against the project, was not invited to attend the two CAFO tours. FORAG's legal representative Stephen Jeffery said that information provided on the tours could compromise the information provided at a previous hearing.
CWC Chairman Todd Parnell was seen taking notes and reviewing them following the two tours, according to the motion to compel document. Stephen Jeffery, who represents FORAG legally, said that information should be provided to FORAG as members of the organization were not invited to the tours.
On September 24, the CWC stated, "Any documents prepared by an individual commissioner for his or her personal use is therefore not relevant to the work of the Commission in deciding this appeal," after claiming that the documentation didn't exist, the Fulton Sun previously reported.
In the CWC's response to the motion, Attorney General Chris Koster said information that the CWC obtained outside of the hearing was not part of the hearing record that was required to be provided in FORAG's discovery request.
The judge overhearing the case ruled that the CWC would be required to turn over the requested documentation to FORAG, which it did later that day.