CCI delivers 5,344 petition signatures to the EPC demanding a crackdown on factory farm pollution
The Summer of Clean Water has paved the way for the next chapter of our Clean Water Act Campaign. Our hard work collecting petition signatures, holding DNR and EPA accountable and monitoring factory farm manure spills has paid off.
A group of CCI members poses outside the EPC HQ
CCI members unrolling thousands of petition signatures in the EPC office
Iowans are at a crossroads; we can continue down the path we’re currently on or we can rise up and demand a new path – a path where the environment comes before money, where Iowans can swim, fish and drink our water without worrying about what’s in it and where independent farmers, urban dwellers and rural communities flourish. We know the DNR won’t lead the way down this new path – it’s up to us and we’re already a block ahead!
More than fifty members of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (Iowa CCI) delivered 5,344 petition signatures from everyday Iowans demanding stronger state action to crack down on factory farm pollution to the Environmental Protection Commission (EPC)
After the public testimony, CCI members unrolled hundreds of pages of petition signatures and wrapped them around the EPC commissioners table. EPC chair Mary Boote temporarily adjourned the meeting. Eighteen members also gave public testimony demanding the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) issue a Clean Water Act operating permit to a giant factory farm polluter in Van Buren county owned by Maschhoff Pork, an out-of-state corporation based in Illinois.
A Maschhoff Pork factory farm in Van Buren County was given a ‘no permit needed’ designation during a botched DNR inspection August 20. Weeks later the factory farm had its fifth manure spill since 2007, dumping thousands of gallons of manure into a creek that directly feeds the Des Moines River. New inspections and permits are a required part of the workplan to implement the Clean Water Act for factory farms in Iowa that was signed by DNR and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in September 2013.
“The DNR could have prevented this spill if they had been doing their job during their August inspection,” said CCI member Gary Klicker, an independent family farmer from Bloomfield. “Iowa CCI members demand the state of Iowa issue a Clean Water Act operating permit to Maschhoff’s Keosauqua sow unit immediately to force it to start playing by stronger rules or get shut down.”
Iowa CCI members say they will continue to audit DNR inspections to ensure they are held accountable to federal law and the work plan agreement they recently signed with EP.