DNR responds to EPA criticism on water regulation

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is treading carefully around EPA findings that the state has not adequately enforced Clean Water Act provisions dealing with the impact of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) .

The DNR, in its first response to the July 12 EPA enforcement letter, said it had started writing rules that would follow the EPA's  permit regulations in 2010.

But DNR spokesman Kevin Baskins said that the work halted after a federal court vacated portions of the EPA's federal rules regarding CAFOs.

After a year, Baskins said, the DNR is still waiting for a revised version of the federal rule.

The EPA said its investigation found that in 49 percent of the cases it reviewed that the DNR had failed to act or didn't follow its enforcement response policy on National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit violations.

When the DNR did take action, the EPA found that it did not assess adequate penalties against CAFOs.

The EPA also told the DNR that it was not issuing permits to CAFOs when appropriate under the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System as required in the Clean Water Act.

 It also said the DNR hasn't conducted comprehensive inspections to decide if unpermitted CAFOs need the permits

CAFOs are large livestock feeding operations that often hold thousands of cattle, poultry or swine. They can produce more organic waste than a small city.

 Beyond the discharges of waste caused by improper waste management practices, CAFOS occasionally have spills due to heavy rainfall, containment failures and other issues. Land application of the manure, the usual method of final disposal, can result in runoff problems if done improperly.

Wally Taylor, a Cedar Rapids attorney for Sierra Club, was not impressed by the DNR's defense, charging regulation has gotten hung up on a kind of chicken-and-egg issue.

Courts ruled that CAFOs are considered point sources for discharge regulation purposes, Taylor said, but their discharges tend to be irregular or intermittent, totally unlike factories or wastewater treatment plants that discharge most of the time.

"Courts have said CAFOs are point sources (of pollution) and can't discharge without a permit, but they can't be forced to get a permit unless they discharge," Taylor said.  "The CAFOs are willing to take that when the penalties are far less than the cost of doing business."

The EPA investigation came years after three Iowa groups asked the EPA in 2007 to withdraw Iowa's authority to run the Clean Water Act permitting program, and eventually warned the EPA last year it would be sued for inaction if it did not do something. The groups are Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, the Environmental Integrity Project and the Sierra Club.

Taylor said the DNR has begun issuing permits to open feedlots, but has never issued discharge permits to confinement operations that keep animals under roof.

Baskins, the DNR spokesman, said the DNR investigates and responds to citizen complaints on manure discharges and requires operators to complete and submit manure land application plans. He said the DNR has already addressed 26 of the 31 original deficiencies raised by the three groups.

"Our goal is to work with producers and organizations to protect the environment, particularly water quality," Baskins said, promising to preserve the DNR's philosophy of "coaching for compliance."

Taylor, of the Sierra Club, said coaching for compliance is a moot point.

"The CAFOS know what they have to do," Taylor said. "They just don't want to do it."

 Baskins said the DNR will respond to the EPA's letter within a required 60-day limit.