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Judge penalizes IA producer for manure discharge

August 5, 2011, Des Moines, IA – A Sioux
County judge ordered a Hawarden, IA, company to pay a $15,000 penalty following
a cattle manure discharge and manure land application that polluted a Sioux
County tributary.
August 5, 2011, Des Moines, IA – A Sioux
County judge ordered a Hawarden, IA, company to pay a $15,000 penalty following
a cattle manure discharge and manure land application that polluted a Sioux
County tributary.

On March 26, 2010 the Iowa
Department of Natural Resources responded to a report of a manure discharge
into a tributary of Six Mile Creek, according to a petition filed recently by
Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller. A DNR investigation determined that Haverhals
Farms, Inc., a 3,500-head cattle operation, discharged approximately 950,000
gallons of manure into the unnamed tributary.

In a consent decree filed
in Sioux County District Court, Haverhals Farms and owner Peter Haverhals admit
discharging and land-applying manure that caused surface or groundwater
pollution.  District Court Judge
Edward A. Jacobson ordered Haverhals Farms and owner Peter Haverhals to pay a
$15,000 civil penalty. The judge also ordered the defendants to comply with
state laws that protect Iowa waterways and groundwater.

Iowa law prohibits a
feedlot operation with more than 1,000 livestock from discharging manure or
effluent into waterways without a permit, and land-applied effluent must be
applied in a manner that will not cause pollution of surface water or
groundwater.