Iowa officials quietly fast-tracked legal settlement with major meatpacker, environmental group alleges

A new legal challenge in Iowa argues that the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and a Postville meatpacking company coordinated behind the scenes to keep details of a “sweetheart deal” settlement from the public. The settlement between the state and meatpacker Agri Star Meat and Poultry LLC included an agreement by the company to pay a $50,000 fine for around 60 water pollution violations — an amount equivalent to one day of intentional Clean Water Act violations.

The environmental group Driftless Water Defenders filed the motion Oct. 21, submitting newly produced documents previously classified as confidential. These documents “reveal a concerted effort to rush the Consent Decree’s approval through the Iowa court system” before the group and the public could learn of it and exercise their legal right under Iowa law to file a motion to intervene with the settlement, the group argues. The emails suggest that the attorney general’s office conferred with counsel for Agri Star about the timing for filing the settlement with the court and the press release.

In the motion, the group alleges that Agri Star and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources “acted in concert” to ensure that the filings about the $50,000 settlement “were done so in a manner to hide the proceedings from public reporting and to exclude DWD’s participation,” despite the ongoing suit.

In February, multiple groups, including Driftless Water Defenders, sued Agri Star for habitually illegally discharging excessive animal waste into public waterways. The groups were calling for penalties which could range into the tens of millions of dollars, as one day of violations under the Clean Water Act could trigger a fine of $68,000 per day. On July 30, Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, on behalf of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, fined Agri Star $50,000 for approximately 60 water quality violations.

For over a week, from July 10 to July 17, counsel for both Agri Star and the state discussed their plan to file a consent decree on July 21. Emails produced in early October show that on July 18, Iowa Assistant Attorney General David Steward wrote to Agri Star counsel that he planned to file the consent decree late in the day, as “News organizations monitor filings and may publish something before the CD is entered by the Court.”

The state’s assistant attorney general let counsel for the meatpacker know when the petition would be filed — ”first thing on Monday” — and when the attorney general’s office would be publicizing the details of the decree. “My office will issue a press release after the judge signs the CD” or consent decree, the email reads.

  Buy Photo

“This action was aimed intentionally, by their own words, to keep the press from any knowledge, and therefore the public from any knowledge,” James C. Larew, co-counsel for Driftless Water Defenders, tells Sentient.

Had Driftless been informed prior to the filing, the group argues, they would have moved to intervene prior to the Decree’s finalization. This decree, the group argues, does not do enough to protect water quality in Iowa.

The system works best, Larew says, when “the court is fully informed of all the material facts before it renders any final judgment.” These actions had the opposite effect, Larew says. Rushing the decision through makes it even more challenging for those advocating for the right to clean water to prevail.

The settlement also made no reference to the federal lawsuit against the company filed by Driftless Water Defenders, the new legal filing notes, nor “the ongoing federal litigation or DWD’s interest in this case.”

Emails also show that Agri Star attorney Joseph Younker emailed Assistant Attorney General Steward a draft resistance to the motion and noted that they would be filing it.

“I reviewed the resistance,” Steward wrote back, referring to a response document, “and appreciate how it harmonizes with the State’s resistance. I do not have any recommendations and support the filing,” Steward also wrote.

On Oct. 22, the State of Iowa requested that the court deny Driftless Water Defenders Motion to Reconsider, writing that the new evidence did not reveal anything the court did not already know. On Oct. 23, the court did.

The Iowa Attorney General Office and Agri Star LLC did not respond to requests for comment.

This story was originally published by Sentient, a nonprofit news organization focused on factory farms and their effects on climate, animals, workers, clean water, public health and rural communities.