Forwarded by Jane Clark
Pasted below is a news release from the Department of Natural Resources
concerning the conviction of an Iowa dairy farmer on four counts of water
pollution in federal court Dec. 2.

Iowa DNR News
Environmental Services Division

For immediate release Tuesday, Dec. 7

For more information, contact Tom McCarthy at 563-927-2640.

DAIRY FARMER CONVICTED OF WATER QUALITY VIOLATIONS

CEDAR RAPIDS * Carl Simon, a dairy farmer from Farley, was convicted on four
counts of water pollution in federal court last Thursday.

Simon was found guilty of breaching a dam on his manure storage facility,
allowing manure from his small dairy operation to flow directly into Hogan's
Branch, a former trout stream and a tributary of the Little Maquoketa River.
Simon was also found guilty of discharging wastes from his milk room into
the stream.

The DNR found the breached dam in December of 2003 during a follow-up visit
to Simon's farm, said Tom McCarthy, an environmental specialist at the DNR
Manchester field office.

"For more than 95 percent of the farmers we work with, it's a one visit
deal," said McCarthy.  "If there is something wrong, they ask, 'How do I fix
this?' and we send them a letter with details of what they need to fix."

In Simon's case, McCarthy said the DNR had been to his farm many times since
1987, sent him letters and filed an administrative order with a $5,000
penalty.

The case was referred to the Iowa Attorney General's office as a criminal
investigation after Simon deliberately dug two trenches from the manure pit
to the stream.  The case was jointly investigated by the Iowa Department of
Justice and the U.S. Department of Justice.

Ryan Stouder, another DNR environmental specialist, said that there had been
multiple violations resulting in discharges to the stream, and that the DNR
continued to find problems that were not fixed.

According to McCarthy, it would have been fairly inexpensive for Simon to
fix the major problems with his operation by diverting a large volume of
clean water flowing down into his confinement barn and manure storage.

"That would have helped him keep the manure basin two feet below the top, so
that it wouldn't overflow," said McCarthy.

McCarthy added that Simon also needed to prevent the milk and potent
cleaners from the milk room from flowing into the stream.

"We have a lot of small farmers next to streams.  We want them to stay in
business, but we want them to fix an environmental problem when we find
one," McCarthy said.

Simon faces up to three years in federal prison on each of the four charges.
The sentencing date has not yet been set.

The conviction resulted from the joint efforts of the DNR field office, the
Iowa Attorney General's office, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the
U.S. Attorney's office Northern District of Iowa.

# # #


Karen Grimes
515-281-5135
[log in to unmask]

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