Great Plains Center for Environmental Law: Publications

Iowa Takes a Stand Against CAFO Pollution

DES MOINES (AP) — Environmental groups on Thursday asked the federal government to revoke Iowa's oversight of factory farms, arguing that the nation's largest hog producing state hasn't enforced rules limiting release of pollution into waterways.

Iowa produces about 25 million hogs a year, according to the Iowa Pork Producers Association. The groups filed a petition to the Environmental Protection Agency accusing the state of allowing the industry to illegally discharge millions of gallons of manure into rivers and streams, killing fish and hurting water quality.

"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. That is why we want the EPA to take over the administration of the program in Iowa," Pam Mackey-Taylor, chairwoman of the Sierra Club's Iowa Chapter, said at a press conference outside the offices of the State Department of Natural Resources.

The main claim of the environmental groups — the Sierra Club, Environmental Integrity Project and Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement — is that the Iowa Department of Natural Resources fails to issue operating permits required by federal law to concentrated animal feeding operations that discharge waste. This affects primarily hog producers, but also Iowa cattle and egg producers.

The petition also argues that Iowa laws don't meet minimum standards in the Clean Water Act.

"This is not just about IDNR, this is about the fact that the Legislature has hamstrung the entire state by passing regulations that are clearly contrary to the Clean Water Act," said Karla Raettig, who helped draft the petition as counsel at the Washington, D.C.-based Environmental Integrity Project.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources responded that the state requires open feedlots with more than 1,000 animals to have a permit if they discharge waste when there has been 5½ inches of rain in a 24-hour period. Smaller lots may also voluntarily apply for a permit. Of the 1,800 registered feedlots in Iowa, 124 have state discharge permits. Six permits are pending.

In addition, the agency has a zero-discharge policy for confinement operations. Only when a confinement violates the rule can it be required by the state to apply for a discharge permit.

"We recognize that these groups have a strong interest in the environment and water quality in Iowa, and we applaud that . . . it will be up to the EPA now whether what they're proposing has merits and should advance," agency spokesman Kevin Baskins said. "But in the meantime, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources has been particularly diligent to try to cope with an industry that has grown by leaps and bounds."

Hog industry officials said farmers follow regulations and that further restrictions are unnecessary.

"It frustrates them. They stop farming because they don't want to deal with the harassment," said Michael Formica, environmental policy counsel at the National Pork Producers Council. "That's one less person producing food and that means prices of food goes up, and ultimately the consumer bears the brunt of all of this."

Eldon McAfee, an attorney for the Iowa Cattlemen's Association, said the petition's claims are exaggerated.

"I think the cattle producers are working very hard to comply with regulations."

Raettig, the counsel for the Environmental Integrity Project, said the EPA is required to respond to the petition in writing, but there is no deadline to file the response. This is the second time a group has filed such a petition relating to oversight of factory farms. A Michigan chapter of the Sierra Club was the first to do so, and although the EPA denied their requests she said the agency began informal negotiations with the state to improve practices.

"I don't know ultimately whether they will withdraw the (permit) program, but I'm sure they will take it very seriously and negotiate with DNR and with us," she said. "We're doing a favor here today, we are helping the state agency stand up to the industry, who has really not allowed the state to effectively regulate factory farms which are polluting your water and this is going to be a long battle, but this is just the start."