EPA goes after Midwest CAFOs; it and enviros go after Georgia agencies, alleging lax regulation

The Environmental Protection Agency is cracking down on concentrated animal feeding operations, and it and and some environmental groups are going after state agencies for lax enforcement against CAFOs. EPA recently issued compliance orders to six in the Midwest and criticized the Georgia Environmental Protection Division and Department of Agriculture for poor oversight.

EPA ordered six CAFOs in Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska "to correct a range of violations of the federal Clean Water Act," Ken Anderson of Brownfield reports. Ritter Feedyards of Beemer, Neb.; Reigle Farms of Madison, Neb.; Dave Uecker Livestock of Norfolk, Neb.; S & S Cattle Co. of Council Bluffs, Iowa; Callicrate Feeding Company of St. Francis, Kan.; and Bloom N Egg Farm owned by M.F. Waldbaum Company of Bloomfield, Neb., were all mentioned in an EPA release. (Read more)

An EPA report claims Georgia's agencies, which it trusts to enforce water-pollution regulations, issued faulty or incomplete inspection reports for almost three-fourths of Georgia's 48 large farms, concluding there is "significant risk that Georgia's CAFO program is failing to protect water quality," Chris Joyner of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

State regulators say the report is inconclusive. "We still have not been provided with adequate documentation from the inspector general's office for us to draw our own conclusions at this point," Dominic Weatherill, industrial compliance manager for the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, told Joyner. "We can't say that we are completely on board with all of its conclusions." (Read more)

Environmental agencies in Iowa recently issued an intent-to-sue letter to EPA for failure to force the state's Department of Resources to enforce waste-discharge regulations. The Washington-based Environmental Integrity Project, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement and the Iowa Chapter of the Sierra Club, seeking a response to their 2007 petition, "asked EPA to strip the Iowa Department of Natural Resources of its authority to administer the Clean Water Act permitting program," Paul Quinlan reports for Greenwire. (Read more, subscription required)