Ruling to revoke permit for egg farm is reversed

COLUMBUS (AP) — An environmental appeals panel reversed a decision Thursday to revoke the operating permits for Ohio’s largest egg producer, saying the state didn’t prove its case that the company obtained the permits by misleading agriculture officials.

The Ohio Department of Agriculture in November revoked the permits to operate for Ohio Fresh Eggs, which took over the 14-million-hen Buckeye Egg Farm in 2004.

The agency said Ohio Fresh Eggs misrepresented itself by not disclosing that Jack DeCoster, labeled a “habitual violator” of environmental laws in Iowa, was involved in the Ohio Fresh Eggs’ day-to-day operations.

Ohio Fresh Eggs appealed to the Environmental Review Appeals Commission, which ruled 3-0 that the company’s permit application was not misleading. DeCoster’s involvement was spelled out in the applications, the panel said.

The decision is the latest in a long fight among the egg farm, its neighbors and state officials.

Buckeye Egg had a history of clean-water law violations and complaints from neighbors about fly and rodent infestations associated with hen manure. The department revoked its permits to operate in 2003. Since October 2004, Ohio Fresh Eggs has been cited 15 times, mostly for manure problems.

Ohio Fresh Eggs operates farms in Licking, Hardin and Wyandot counties.

The state can appeal the ruling to the 10th Ohio District Court of Appeals. A message seeking comment was left for a spokeswoman for Robert Boggs, director of the Ohio Department of Agriculture. The permits were revoked during the tenure of former director Fred Dailey.

“The commission finds that the director’s determination that Mr. DeCoster is an individual ‘who has a right to control or in fact controls management’ of OFE is inconsistent with a careful analysis of the terms of the operative documents,” the commission said in its ruling.