November 18, 2009, Kansas
City, KS – A Sioux County, Iowa, cattle feedlot operation has agreed to pay a
$25,000 civil penalty to settle allegations that it violated the federal Clean
Water Act by allowing manure and wastewater to discharge into the West Branch
of the Floyd River.
November 18, 2009, Kansas
City, KS – A Sioux County, Iowa, cattle feedlot operation has agreed to pay a
$25,000 civil penalty to settle allegations that it violated the federal Clean
Water Act by allowing manure and wastewater to discharge into the West Branch
of the Floyd River.
Joel Schuiteman, doing
business as Schuiteman Feedlots, is the named respondent in the proposed
consent agreement and final order placed on public notice today in Kansas City,
Kan.
In May 2008, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) inspected
Schuiteman’s operation and documented that it was confining approximately 3,400
cattle in confinement barns and approximately 1,200 cattle in open feedlots.
The EPA also documented that Schuiteman’s operation was discharging manure and wastewater
into the West Branch of the Floyd River.
The West Branch of the
Floyd River has been on Iowa’s list of impaired waters because of low
biological diversity and past fish kills. Both of these impacts have been
linked to runoff of wastes from concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs)
such as Schuiteman’s feedlot.
Under state and federal
law, any animal feeding operation that confines 1,000 or more cattle must
operate as a “no-discharge” facility, unless it has an approved National
Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit. This includes operations
that incorporate indoor and/or outdoor confinement of animals. Schuiteman did
not have an NPDES permit, nor was he able to prevent unauthorized discharges
from his outdoor pens.
On September 9, 2008, the EPA
ordered Schuiteman to cease the outdoor confinement of cattle at the feedlot
unless he could prevent all discharges of animal waste and wastewater from that
portion of his feedlot. He no longer confines cattle outside.
The proposed consent agreement
with Schuiteman Feedlots is subject to a 40-day public comment period.
