Northwest Iowa — The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is being criticized by an activist group for an alleged lack of action in issuing Clean Water Act Permits to confined animal feeding operations, here in northwest Iowa, and across the state.
The DNR has offered a progress report three years into its five-year work plan agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency to clean up the state’s waters, but Jess Mazour, of the Iowa Citizens For Community Improvement, says many of the confinement operations, or CAFO’s, still lack a Clean Water Act Permit.
She says there are more than 5,000 CAFOs that are still not accounted for in the D-N-R work plan. Mazour also says the E-P-A needs to take over from the Iowa DNR in order to enforce the Clean Water Act and bring those CAFOS in line.
Mazour says all CAFOS should have to have a Clean Water Act permit before they’re allowed to operate.
She says permitted operations can faces fines of $37,500 per day when they’re in violation. Mazour says Iowa is going through a water crisis with a record number of waterways polluted.
