NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Ohio settles with dairy, manure applicator
A plea agreement has been reached with Van Ham Dairy
and MVH Custom Works after a July 2008 discharge of manure from the dairy.
February
17, 2010, Columbus, OH – A plea agreement has been reached with Van Ham Dairy
and MVH Custom Works after a July 2008 discharge of manure from the dairy.
Van
Ham Dairy, owned by Jan Van Ham, and MVH, the custom manure applicator for the
dairy, will pay $10,000 penalties to the state.
The
fines resulted after Livestock Environmental Permitting Program (LEPP)
inspectors with the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) discovered the
discharges.
In
July 2008, MVC, which is owned by Mark Van Ham, could not properly apply manure
due to wet field conditions. Instead, the company allowed manure to be pumped
from a lagoon to a fixed point in a field. The pumping was not monitored
properly and the field flooded, sending the manure into a storm water catch
basin and the ditch.
Following
its investigation, ODA LEPP issued its report of the incident to Ohio
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for possible criminal enforcement.
As
part of the plea agreement, both businesses also are required to place an
announcement acknowledging their responsibility for the incident in an
agricultural publication. The goal of the announcement and one aim of the
state’s enforcement actions in this and other cases are to educate agricultural
producers about the regulations and best management practices for manure
management to prevent these incidents from occurring.
Technical
assistance is available from the local Soil and Water Conservation Districts,
USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Ohio State University
Extension service for developing conservation plans, including best management
practices for nutrient management, manure management, and practices to minimize
impacts to water quality, while improving crop and livestock production.
ODA
LEPP engineers and inspectors can provide technical assistance to permitted
livestock and poultry farms to improve or change structural or management
practices.
USDA
Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Environmental Quality Incentive
Program offers the opportunity for financial assistance for installation and
implementation of best management practices.
Several
of the Lake Erie and Mississippi River basin local grant opportunities include
implementation incentives to encourage new best management practices.
For
more information on manure management or agricultural best management
practices, contact the ODA Livestock Environmental Permitting Program at (614)
387-0470 or lepp@agri.ohio.gov, or contact a local soil and water conservation
district.
