Newsroom
All News Releases By Date
EPA Complaint Warns Large Feedlots
Release Date: 10/25/1999
Contact Information: Bub Loiselle
[email protected]
(206) 553-6901
99-54 - - - - - - - - - - October 25, 1999
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Dairies to Keep Livestock Away From Creeks and Ditches
A complaint seeking $95,000 in civil penalties from a Canyon County, Idaho, feedlot has been issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in a move that puts large feedlot and dairy operators everywhere on notice that they must keep their livestock out of creeks, drainage ditches and other waters.
The complaint was announced today by Bub Loiselle, the Clean Water Act compliance manager at EPA’s Northwest regional office in Seattle.
The complaint was issued to Thomas T. Nicholson, who does business as CC&T Livestock approximately 30 miles southwest of Boise on property that is connected by ditches and canals to the Snake River. Nicholson operates a dairy replacement feeding operation with more than 3,000 head of cattle. Nicholson is alleged by the complaint to have violated the federal Clean Water Act, the statute that requires concentrated animal feeding operations to keep animal wastes out of surface waters.
“What’s noteworthy here is that this feedlot was discharging on a daily basis for more than a year,” Loiselle said. “It’s self-evident that if cattle are in a creek or ditch, manure will be going into the water.
“This complaint is the first time EPA has taken an enforcement action where issue is the access of livestock to ditches, creeks or rivers. It won’t be the last.”
According to the complaint, Nicholson allowed discharges of animal wastes to flow into waters leading to the Snake River on an almost daily basis for more than a year in the mid-1990's, and, for at least the last five years, allowed runoff from the feedlot’s stock pens to enter nearby ditches and Sproat Springs, all of which run into the Snake.
Livestock waste typically contains large amounts of nutrients and other organic material that can degrade water quality and harm wildlife. The wastes can also contain bacteria and other microorganisms than can seriously affect human health. The State of Idaho Division of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has listed that stretch of the Snake river as impaired for nutrients and bacteria.
The complaint makes note that Nicholson failed to respond adequately to warnings from EPA and DEQ. Nicholson, according to the complaint, was warned by EPA and DEQ inspectors to keep his cattle from ditches, but continued to allow the animals direct access for more than a year after the first inspection. Later, after subsequent inspections, Nicholson is said to have partially complied, but not consistently.
It is also alleged that Nicholson did not take adequate measures to prevent runoff. When it rained, stock pen runoff occurred as many as 36 times over a five-year period.
The inspections at Nicholson’s feedlot were conducted in 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1999. The inspections are part of ongoing efforts by EPA and state agencies to ensure that concentrated animal feeding operations, like dairies and feedlots comply with the Clean Water Act. When it comes to dairies, EPA relies heavily on an inspection program conducted by the Idaho Department of Agriculture; for feedlots, EPA inspectors work with the Idaho DEQ.
Search this collection of releases | or search all news releases
View selected historical press releases from 1970 to 1998 in the EPA History website.
