Posted November 25, 2013
After a manure spill earlier this month at one of Iowa’s largest hog operations, a coalition a groups notified the Maschhoffs, LLC that they intend to file a lawsuit claiming repeated violations of the Clean Water Act (CWA), according to an article by the Public News Service available here. The “notice of intent to sue” is available here.
The groups include Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (CCI), the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP), and the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS).
David Goodner, farm and environment organizer with CCI said that the latest spill reached a tributary of the Des Moines River. “It was their fifth manure spill since 2007, said Goodner. “And so, this lawsuit is part of a larger strategy by Iowa CCI members and our allies to hold Maschhoff accountable for the repeated Clean Water Act violations and to see them be issued a Clean Water Act permit that would force them to play by stronger rules, or get shut down.”
The Maschhoffs’ Keosauqua sow facility is a nearly 7,500-head operation that Goodner says produces over 11 million gallons of manure annually.
Maschhoff spokeswoman, Julie Maschhoff, said “We believe this notice of potential legal action from the Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement and the Humane Society of the United States is frivolous and totally without merit,” according to a Des Moines Register article available here.
For more information on the Clean Water Act, please visit the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
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