Articles Tagged: CAFO

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources has granted a northeast Iowa cattle feedlot a water use permit, despite concern from neighbors and environmental groups the feedlot will draw more water than stated in its permit renewal request.

Agricultural reform group says consolidation has cut farmers’ profits and caused rural counties to lose population. But an ISU economist offers different explanation.

The Iowa Environmental Council wants to force the state's Environmental Protection Commission to adopt flood plain maps to comply with a law that says animal-feeding operations can’t be built near waterways.

Supreme Beef wants to withdraw up to 21.9 million gallons of water a year from two wells in the Jordan aquifer near the 11,600-head facility in Clayton County. Opponents who spoke at a public hearing Monday say the feedlot will use far more water and should have new permit application.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources has fined a Waukon dairy farm $1,500 for three manure releases in 2018 caused by employees not properly using a new manure pumping system.

A Polk County judge has ruled environmental groups may continue with a lawsuit against the Iowa Department of Natural Resources over the approval of an 11,600-head cattle feedlot in the watershed of a popular trout stream in northeast Iowa.

The Iowa Environmental Protection Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to dismiss a petition seeking stricter rules for new animal feeding operations built in the karst terrain of northeast Iowa.

The Iowa Senate Ethics Committee unanimously dismissed an ethics complaint alleging Sen. Dan Zumbach used his position to pressure state employees to approve a cattle feedlot owned by his son-in-law.

Four Iowans opposed to an 11,600-head feedlot in northeast Iowa filed an Iowa Senate ethics complaint against state Sen. Dan Zumbach, saying Zumbach used his position to pressure state employees to approve the feedlot owned by his son-in-law.

A coalition of California restaurants and grocery stores has filed a lawsuit to block implementation of a new farm animal welfare law, adding to uncertainty about whether bacon and other fresh pork products will be much more expensive or in short supply in the state when the new rules take effect on New Year's Day.

Gov. Kim Reynolds in June signed a bill that allows Iowa animal feeding operations to exceed confinement capacity if they install an anaerobic digester to treat all manure.

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.