Environmentalists say Iowa not regulating factory hog farms, ask EPA to take over

Three environmental groups have filed a petition with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency arguing that Iowa officials have failed for three decades to enforce rules limiting water pollution from the hog industry, and thus should no longer be allowed to enforce federal laws and regulations upon the industry.

Sierra Club, the Environmental Integrity Project and Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement claim the industry is illegally discharging millions of gallons of hog waste that is damaging water quality and killing fish. "If the state will not properly enforce and implement the Clean Water Act in Iowa, then the state should no longer be allowed to administer the program," Pam Mackey-Taylor, chairwoman of Iowa's chapter of the Sierra Club said at a news conference outside the offices of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. "That is why we want the EPA to take over the administration of the program in Iowa." (Photo of ICCI member Virgil Henricksen of Audubon protesting at the news conference by John Gaps III of the Des Moines Register.)

Department Director Richard Leopold told the Register's Perry Beeman, ""I do not think we are doing things that are in violation of the Clean Water Act. We are talking about interpretations."
Department spokesman Kevin Baskins told The Associated Press that the agency "has been particularly diligent to try to cope with an industry that has grown by leaps and bounds."

Perry Beeman reports for the Register, "The state hasn't issued any federal sewage permits to livestock confinements but has issued them to 100 of the approximately 1,500 open feedlots registered in Iowa. Leopold said his agency is waiting for the EPA to sort out recent court decisions that affect the program, though the EPA has said the state should act now." EPA is required to respond in writing to the petition, but there is no deadline for a reply. (Read more)