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Illinois Man Charged with Million Gallon Dairy Waste Discharge
Release Date: 10/13/2005
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(10/13/05) David Inskeep, former manager of the Inwood Dairy in Elmwood, Ill., was charged on Sept. 21 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois for allegedly violating the Clean Water Act by pumping dairy wastes into the West Fork of Kickapoo Creek. The Inwood Dairy had approximately 1,250 cows. To control pollution from the cows, animal wastes were flushed from the barns into a collection point and then pumped into a storage lagoon until they could be legally disposed of. On Feb. 14, 2001, an Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) official found the lagoon to be near capacity and ordered the defendant to stop pumping waste into it. On the next day, the lagoon was completely full and the pump was still operating. At that time, Inskeep allegedly refused to hire waste haulers to remove the waste and threatened to pump waste into the West Fork. On Feb. 16, an Illinois Circuit Court judge ordered the dairy to immediately stop discharging wastes into the lagoon. However, on that day and on the next, Inskeep allegedly pumped a combined total of one million gallons of waste from the lagoon into the West Fork through a flexible hose. Dumping animal waste into surface waters can make them unfit for recreational and drinking water uses, and it can also harm fish and wildlife. The case was investigated by the Chicago Office of EPA's Criminal Investigation Division, the IEPA and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. It is being prosecuted by the Environmental Crimes Section of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., and the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago.
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