Lawyer Sanders says US EPA finally acts to stop animal waste from concentrated animal feeding operations polluting river.

U.S.EPA recently issued a cease and desist administrative order to Ray Hoffman, Jr. Dairy in Windthorst, Texas, for violations of the federal Clean Water Act. The dairy, an unpermitted Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO), is located about five miles west of Windthorst, off Highway 25, about one-half mile south on Munchrath Road, in Archer County, Texas.

EPA ordered the CAFO to immediately stop all discharges of pollutants from its waste lagoons. The dairy has been given 45 days to provide to EPA documentation that the facility has adequate lagoon capacity to contain all waste and process-generated wastewater plus storm water runoff during a 25-year, 24-hour storm event. The CAFO must develop and implement a pollution prevention plan that will include procedures for the proper utilization of nutrients generated by the dairy, proper disposal of dead animals and the proper maintenance of records, especially records documenting wastewater levels in the lagoon to minimize lagoon overflows.

The dairy has 45 days to complete this task. In April 2008, EPA inspected the facility and determined that it did not have CAFO permit coverage. The inspection also revealed an unauthorized discharge from the dairy that entered an unnamed creek that traveled about one mile before entering Little Onion Creek. Little Onion Creek flows about three miles before it enters Onion Creek, which discharges into the Little Wichita River. The Little Wichita River flows about seven-and-one-half miles before discharging into Lake Arrowhead.

The idea of a concentrated animal feeding operation allowing raw animal waste to flow into a tributary of a river is fairly outrageous and disgusting. EPA is absolutely justified in hammering this knuckle head. An apt punishment would be to have the manager of the feed lot swim in the animal waste or drink a full glass of the stream water polluted with animal poo.