U.S. Water News Online
DES MOINES, Iowa -- The Environmental Protection Agency has cited a southwest Iowa feedlot operator for violating the Clean Water Act in a case that could mark the beginning of other violations to be filed against feedlots around the state.
The Lauritsen Cattle Co., of Exira, is accused of illegally discharging manure into the East Nishnabotna River.
The EPA said the company also has failed to comply with the Iowa Open Feedlot Plan, a five-year enforcement moratorium on the Clean Water Act. It requires hundreds of livestock operations to put in place manure handling and storage methods to prevent runoff and spills.
During the moratorium period, which began in March 2001 and ends next month, feedlot operators that signed up for the plan have not been cited for violations as long as they showed progress toward compliance. Operations that didn't sign up for the state open feedlot plan have been subject to EPA enforcement during the moratorium period.
Jim Gulliford, EPA Region 7 administrator, said with the deadline approaching, those operations under the moratorium will be held to task.
"Our message to Iowa cattle producers has been clear," he said. "Producers were given a five-year enforcement moratorium to fully comply with the law, and we expect them to meet the commitments they made when they entered into the agreement."
In the case of the Lauritsen Cattle Co., owner Scott Lauritsen has been fined $29,700 for violating the Clean Water Act. The feedlot, about 3,000-head at the time of an inspection last year, has been ordered to build waste control structures to prevent further damage from discharges.
The move by the EPA came after the Iowa Department of Natural Resources expelled Lauritsen from the moratorium plan. Officials said Lauritsen had registered for the plan in 2001, but failed to meet mandatory deadlines for installing manure controls.
"Finally, we just decided he is not abiding by the Iowa plan ... so we basically removed him from the protection status," said Gene Tinker, an animal feeding operations coordinator with the DNR.
Since its passage in the 1970s, Tinker said government enforcement of the Clean Water Act hasn't been up to par, which has meant some livestock operations didn't feel as though they had to make the sometimes costly changes.
"They were not out routinely enforcing the state and federal laws as they should have been," he said.
Stephen Pollard, an EPA compliance officer, said he wouldn't speculate on Iowa's compliance rates, but said there likely are other operations that haven't complied with the requirements of the moratorium.
"As with all sectors that you look at, there are going to be facilities that aren't going to be in compliance," he said.
Pollard said three other facilities were kicked out of Iowa's plan, with two receiving enforcement actions and another dealt with informally.
He said the moratorium plan was a cooperative effort between the DNR and the Iowa Cattlemen's Association, and was honored at the EPA's discretion. He wasn't aware of any other states that had such a system.
"We recognized that there was a problem with open lots and their compliance status and instead of going out and issuing enforcement to all of these feedlots, we felt the better approach would be to work with them and find the quickest way to get them into compliance," he said.
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