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Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Environment - Two CAFO stories today
"Manure pollutes Salamonie waterway" is the headline to a story by Rebecca S. Green in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette. Some quotes:
State environmental officials were on the scene Tuesday of a manure spill at a rural Huntington County commercial dairy farm that has been in trouble in the past.A story today by Seth Slabaugh of the Muncie StarPress reports:A member of the public notified the Indiana Department of Environmental Management on Monday that waste from the DeGroot Dairy, 8378 W. County Road 200 South, Andrews, had contaminated a tributary of the Salamonie Reservoir, according to IDEM spokeswoman Amy Hartsock.
IDEM officials were still on the scene Tuesday, overseeing the cleanup of about one-half mile of the creek, she said. They were still uncertain how the manure ended up in the creek, she said.
In 2004, the DeGroot Dairy, a 1,400-cow operation, reached a $45,000 settlement with state environmental officials after contamination was found to have entered the George W. Young drain twice in 11 days. * * *
Johannes DeGroot, who owns the dairy, referred all questions Tuesday to his Indianapolis-based attorney, Todd Janzen.
Janzen said DeGroot had done everything IDEM officials asked him to do but declined to comment further.
MUNCIE -- The Indiana Department of Environmental Management says it will consider revoking the permits of two Dutch dairy CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations).Here is a list of ILB entries referencing "De Groot"; here is a list of ILB entries referencing "Vreba-Hoff."IDEM Commissioner Thomas Easterly issued a statement Tuesday saying he intended to "act swiftly to address the serious non-compliance issues at the livestock operations responsible for these emergency spills."
He warned, "IDEM will work to the fullest extent of its authority to pursue administrative action and penalties in these cases, and determine whether permit revocations are appropriate."
Last week, Union-Go Dairy in Randolph County discharged manure into about two miles of Sparrow Creek. Union-Go also was accused of failing to maintain at least two feet of freeboard in its 20-million-gallon manure lagoon.
This week in Huntington County, De Groot Dairy, which has a history of environmental violations, discharged manure into a tributary of Salamonie Reservoir.
Last year, criminal charges were filed against Johannes De Groot, who allegedly added a cow barn and a silage pad to his controversial, 1,400-cow dairy farm without first seeking a permit to do so from IDEM. In 2004, DeGroot pleaded guilty to intimidating an IDEM inspector. Also that year, he paid the state $45,000 to settle a complaint that he had contaminated a waterway.
Vreba-Hoff Dairy Development, Wauseon, Ohio, has helped several dozen European, Canadian and other dairy producers establish new dairy operations in Indiana, Michigan and Ohio. In East Central Indiana, Vreba-Hoff has sited dairy CAFOs in Randolph, Henry and Madison counties, each of which has been cited by IDEM for violations. They include discharging manure into waterways and allegedly building manure facilities that did not comply with permit conditions.
Vreba-Hoff also has moved into Grant County. Citizens in Blackford County have been fighting Vreba-Hoff's efforts to locate there.
"Indiana has stringent performance standards for the livestock industry that require operators and owners to prevent manure from impacting water quality," Easterly said. "The majority of livestock operations in Indiana work hard to meets these ... standards for storing and land-applying manure."
Union-Go, owned by Tony and Ivonne Goltstein, recently filed a permit application with IDEM to expand from 1,650 cows to 2,804 cows.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on April 11, 2007 08:56 AM
Posted to Environment