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.
