September 22, 2010,
Philadelphia, PA – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently announced
that it has issued an Administrative Penalty Order in the amount of $6,000 to
Melvin and Moses Petersheim of Manheim Pa. for illegally discharging pollutants
from their Manheim farm to a nearby stream without a required Clean Water Act
permit.
September 22, 2010,
Philadelphia, PA – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently announced
that it has issued an Administrative Penalty Order in the amount of $6,000 to
Melvin and Moses Petersheim of Manheim, Pa. for illegally discharging pollutants
from their Manheim farm to a nearby stream without a required Clean Water Act
permit.
On April 1, the EPA
inspected the farm of Melvin Petersheim, who owns farmland on which he operates
an egg-laying operation with approximately 36,000 hens. His brother Moses
has a dairy operation with about 80 dairy cows on the same property.
The inspection
determined the Petersheims did not have a permit, but were discharging
pollutants, including nitrogen and phosphorus from animal manure and milkhouse
washwater into a tributary of Chickies Creek, a tributary of the Susquehanna
River.
On June 1, the EPA ordered
the Petersheims to cease discharging pollutants to the waters, or obtain the
required permits, and comply with the permits by implementing the required
pollution reduction measures.
The farm is located in
the Chesapeake Bay watershed. This action is part of the agency’s
multi-state, multi-media compliance and enforcement strategy to improve water
quality in local waterways and the Bay.
The EPA will continue
conducting inspections of farms in the Lancaster County area over the coming
months.
