Waukon dairy fined $25,000 for repeated manure release

A dairy farm in far northeast Iowa has agreed to pay a $25,000 fine for repeatedly leaking manure onto neighboring property and into a spring-fed ravine in recent years, according to court documents.

Regancrest Holsteins is a large confinement operation with nearly 1,000 mature dairy cattle, 260 immature dairy cattle and 16 beef cattle. It is about 5 miles northeast of Waukon in an area of Iowa that is highly susceptible to groundwater contamination.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources has documented five separate manure releases from the site since 2018. Most of them were tied to problems with a manure pumping system that moves the waste from confinement buildings to outdoor storage basins.

That system was installed as part of an expansion of the operation. Three times in 2018 the system clogged and leaked manure off-site. DNR records show the facility's owner, Bill Regan, attributed each of the incidents to errors made by his employees.

Regan did not immediately respond to a request to comment on the latest leak.

The DNR fined Regancrest $1,500 for the 2018 infractions.

In February 2023, the department responded to another reported manure spill at the site and determined that manure-laden water flowed from an open feedlot into a ravine and a tributary of Jones Creek. The DNR and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had warned Regancrest that the feedlot needed barriers to keep stormwater contained.

"We warned them numerous times," said Brian Jergenson, a senior environmental specialist who investigated the manure releases.

Going to court

Jergenson said Regancrest's repeated failures to control its manure led the DNR to seek enhanced penalties in court with the help of the Iowa Attorney General's Office.

That happened after the last-documented incident in July 2023, when a dairy worker began transferring manure to the outdoor basins but didn't immediately notice that a hose connection had failed. An unspecified amount of manure discharged from the hose for about a half hour. It again contaminated the creek tributary.

"Regancrest allowed materials … in Iowa’s surface waters that were acutely toxic to human, animal or plant life," wrote Eric Dirth, an assistant attorney general, in a recent state district court filing.

The DNR's administrative fines are capped by law at a maximum of $10,000. When the department refers environmental offenses to the attorney general, they typically result in negotiated settlements of higher amounts.

Court filings associated with the Regancrest settlement were filed Sept. 20. The dairy agreed to pay a $25,000 fine and was ordered by a judge to cease all manure releases.

District Judge Laura Parrish noted that further infractions could spawn contempt-of-court charges and other penalties: "The court, therefore, retains jurisdiction over this matter to ensure compliance with the terms of this order."

It was the second settlement for manure violations this year that resulted from a department referral to the attorney general.

In August 2023, a dairy about 10 miles southeast of Maquoketa discharged an unspecified amount of manure into a tributary of Bear Creek, according to documents of the state Environmental Protection Commission, which makes the referrals to state litigators at the DNR's request.

D&D Dairy allegedly failed to remove the manure from the tributary for nearly a month. It had previously been fined $4,000 and $5,000 for manure discharges in 2016 and 2019. The commission's review of those incidents early this year showed that the dairy's owner, Darryl Banowetz, had only paid $1,000 of the 2019 fine.

In a May settlement agreement between Banowetz and the Iowa Attorney General's Office, Banowetz agreed to pay $15,000 in monthly installments for a year. If he fails to pay, the office might increase the fine to $25,000.

Three other state litigations in the past decade that resulted from manure discharges led to fines ranging from $15,000 to $46,000, according to court records.

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