Beef Feedlot in Underwood, Iowa, to Pay $20,000 Civil Penalty to Settle Discharge Violations Affecting Mosquito Creek (IA)
Environmental News
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Kansas City, Kan., May 26, 2011) - A beef
feedlot in Underwood, Iowa, has agreed to pay a $20,000 civil
penalty for unpermitted discharges of wastewater from the facility
into Mosquito Creek.
Moran Beef, Inc., agreed to pay the penalty as
part of an administrative consent agreement filed by EPA Region 7
in Kansas City, Kan. In June 2009, EPA inspectors visited the
facility and found that it lacked controls to prevent the discharge
of animal waste into Mosquito Creek and its tributaries. A
subsequent inspection in October 2009 collected samples of effluent
that showed the facility was discharging pathogens, ammonia and
nitrate into an unnamed tributary of the creek.
At the time of EPA’s inspection of Moran
Beef, the facility was confining approximately 1,485 cattle in its
open lot and confinement barn operations. A Concentrated Animal
Feeding Operation (CAFO) with both open lots and confinement barns
is subject to regulation under the Clean Water Act as a
“Large CAFO” if the entire operation contains more than
1,000 beef cattle.
EPA issued an administrative compliance order to
Moran Beef in January 2010, directing it to comply with
requirements of the Clean Water Act and end all unauthorized
discharges of wastewater from its facility. Following that order,
Moran Beef applied for a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination
System (NPDES) permit and has built controls at its facility to
prevent unauthorized discharges.
Unpermitted discharges of wastewater from CAFOs
can cause exceedances in water quality standards and pose risks to
human health, threaten aquatic life and its habitat, and impair
public use and enjoyment of waterways.
Learn more about EPA’s civil enforcement of the Clean Water Act
Learn more about the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) and how it regulates concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs)
EPA Region 7 offers 10 tips to help CAFO owners and operators prepare for inspections
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