Texas egg farm to pay $1.9 million for water pollution, largest civil fine in federal CAFO case

The term "concentrated animal feeding operations" typically conjures up images of feed lots for cattle and houses for broiler chickens, but a Texas egg producer, one of the nation's largest, has agreed to pay the largest civil penalty ever in a federal enforcement action against a CAFO, the Environmental Protection Agency said in a news release.

Mahard Egg Farm will pay $1.9 million "to resolve claims that the company violated the Clean Water Act at its egg production facilities in Texas and Oklahoma," the release said. "The company will also spend approximately $3.5 million on remedial measures to ensure compliance with the law and protect the environment and people’s health." The company has seven CAFOs.

The settlement, reached with the help of state agencies, "reflects the seriousness of Mahard’s violations," said Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator of EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance and Assurance. "Large animal feeding operations that fail to comply with our nation’s environmental laws threaten public health and the environment and put smaller farming operations at a disadvantage." (Read more)