Three ways DNR can improve water quality, but is choosing not to

Iowa DNR passes the buck again on clean water

In May, Iowa’s factory farm rules were opened up for a 5-year review. This was the Department of Natural Resource's (DNR) and Environmental Protection Commission's (EPC) opportunity to close loopholes within their factory farm permitting and enforcement authority. DNR received 1,600 comments on the factory farm rules.  Roughly 90% of the comments supported strengthening the rules, but instead of listening to the people, the DNR continued business-as-usual and listened to the industry.

This is our last chance to weigh in before the vote and demand DNR and EPC close the LLC loophole, hold factory farm corporations accountable, and protect our water. 

Iowans Demand Stronger Rules

The Iowa DNR says over and over again that “their hands are tied” and that improvements to water quality can only happen through legislation. We know that’s not true.Here are three ways the EPC & DNR could improve water quality, but blatantly choose not to 1. Close the LLC loophole. Again and again, we see unpermitted factory farms build one right next to another under different LLCs.  Iowans who have fought factory farms from moving in next door are sick and tired of seeing factory farms build just one or two hogs under the permit threshold which allows them skirt around stronger permitting laws.  DNR has the ability through rulemaking to close this loophole —but is passing the buck to the legislature and choosing to do nothing.EPC & DNR can fix this by:

• Strengthening the definition of “common area” so factory farms owned by the same person that spread manure on the same fields are considered one large factory farm.

• Strengthen the definition of “common ownership” so multiple "small" unpermitted factory farms with the same owner(s) are considered one large factory farm, which must comply with manure management plans.

 2. Hold factory farm corporations accountable

Most factory farms in Iowa are operated as “contract growers," meaning a local person owns the building and the manure, but a big ag corporation– like Cargill, Iowa Select, Maschoff, etc—own the hogs. Currently, when a violation occurs, only the "contact grower" is held responsible.  We think big ag corporations should be responsible for their own mess. The DNR acknowledges that this is possible through rulemaking, but hasn't made this improvement. EPC & DNR can fix this by:

• Strengthening the definition of “controlling interest” so corporate integrators like Prestage, Cargill, & Smithfield can be held liable for violations.

• Strengthening the definition of “enforcement action” so fines or penalties can be issued to corporate integrators who actually own the hogs.

 3. Protect our water Iowa is in a water crisis and mandatory manure regulations are one way we can clean it up.  DNR can strengthen manure management laws to make sure manure doesn’t runoff into our water but choose not to.EPC & DNR can fix this by:

• Strengthening the definition of "public use area" in the permitting process to include a lake itself and tributaries of the lake, not just the dock or shelter areas.

• Banning manure application on frozen/snow-covered/water-saturated ground and on karst terrain – no excuses!