DES MOINES, Iowa (Legal Newsline) - Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller announced a court order on Tuesday against an Inwood cattle producer that allegedly applied manure improperly, causing the manure to flow into the tributary of a local creek.
District Court Judge David Lester ordered Vernon Van Beek, the owner and operator of Lone Tree Feedlot, to pay a $12,000 civil penalty for allegedly applying manure improperly to land. The manure allegedly discharged into a tributary of Dry Run Creek and caused water quality violations in 2012.
Van Beek allegedly failed to report the discharges to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR), which discovered the discharges during an inspection on June 1, 2012.
Miller sued Van Beek last week on behalf of the DNR. Van Beek consented to the judgment and paid the civil penalty to resolve the lawsuit.
In 2010, the Environmental Protection Agency alleged that Van Beek and Jason Dorhaut, doing business as Lone Tree Feedlot, discharged pollutants into a tributary of Dry Run Creek, in violation of the federal Clean Water Act. The EPA ordered Van Beek and Dorhaut to apply for a permit through the Iowa DNR and to complete wastewater controls at Lone Tree Feedlot's facilities.
The DNR issued Lone Tree Feedlot a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit in 2012.
Civil penalty entered against Iowa cattle farm over manure flow allegations
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