"Judge Supports Plan For Expanding Au Sable River Trout Farm"

"TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — A state judge has sided with a northern Michigan fish growing company that wants to dramatically increase production of rainbow trout on the Au Sable River, turning aside objections that the expansion would pollute the prized waterway.

Administrative Law Judge Daniel Pulter endorsed with slight modifications a 2014 permit issued by the Department of Environmental Quality that would allow Harrietta Hills Trout Farm LLC eventually to raise its output to 300,000 pounds of trout annually at its Grayling facility — up from 20,000 pounds a few years ago.

Company owner Dan Vogler says the expansion is needed to keep the business profitable and would draw more tourists, boosting the local economy. A group called Anglers of the Au Sable and the Sierra Club challenged the permit, saying the operation would discharge feces and uneaten fish food to the river, degrading water quality and potentially exposing wild trout to a deadly parasitic disease."

John Flesher reports for the Associated Press February 2, 2017.