Iowa’s Attorney General has filed a lawsuit against two north-central Iowa companies alleging they have failed to file the required manure management plans for their hog confinement operations. A-G spokesman Bob Brammer says the lawsuit seeks to have General Development, and Kollasch Land and Livestock Incorporated both of Whittemore, to comply with the law.
Brammer says the law also allows a $5,000 penalty per day, per violation. The companies have two hog facilities in Kossuth and six in Palo Alto County with a combined capacity of over 23,000 hogs. Brammer says the operations need to have adequate plans for land application of manure produced by the animals.
He says the plan is a tool to protect the environment, and says the great majority of operations comply with the rules. Brammer says the operations have failed to produce manure plans after many reminders from the D.N.R. Brammer says they produce tons of manure and there are many different ways to store, dispose of and spread that manure on the ground, but it has to be done within the rules. He says the rules protect the streams and environment from manure runoff.
General Development and Kollasch Land and Livestock are two different companies operated by two brothers, Charles and Luke Kollasch.
In an unrelated case, a Cresco livestock operation owner has agreed to a $60,000 settlement over manure management violations.
Brammer says Kenneth Moellers who operated, large dairy, cattle and hog operations had numerous violations in 2005, 2008 and 2009. He says they were water pollution violations was well as failing to file manure management plans. Brammer says the fine was just one part of the settlement.
He says the court prohibited any future violations and set down a whole battery of measures that he would have to undertake to comply and prevent water pollution. Brammer says the violations including allowing manure to get into the Turkey River and Chialk Creek, a brown-trout stream.