The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is trying to decide what to do with a cattle producer that built an underground manure tank in karst terrain — a risky area because of the potential for groundwater pollution — without getting a permit.
The Sierra Club Iowa Chapter filed a lawsuit Thursday in Clayton County District Court against the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and Supreme Beef, owners of an 11,600-head cattle feedlot near Monona.
The Iowa Environmental Council and the Environmental Law & Policy Center have
Iowa Department of Natural Resources Director Kayla Lyon said she doesn’t have the authority to overturn her agency’s approval of an 11,600-head cattle feedlot near Monona.
Environmental groups are asking Iowa Department of Natural Resources Director Kayla Lyon to use her discretion to overrule a project to put 11,600 cattle near a northeast Iowa trout stream.
Environmental groups see this conversation — documented in an Oct. 2 email — as evidence Supreme Beef’s plan to have 11,600 cattle on the site near Monona was approved behind closed doors, rendering moot a public hearing and public comments.
Environmental groups say Supreme Beef facility may endanger trout stream
Because the feedlot is on porous terrain in the watershed of an important trout stream, the petition states, there is high risk of manure running into the water and potentially killing fish and destroying their habitat.
With about 270 on-farm digesters in the U.S. — four of those in Iowa — advocates see a great opportunity for expansion at large-scale CAFOs. Environmentalists say the energy benefits are small compared with cost.
With seven pigs to each Iowan and total pork production in the state up 30 percent in a decade, Iowans …
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