AGRI STAR’S POLLUTION OF IOWA WATERWAYS HAS VIOLATED CLEAN WATER ACT FOR YEARS, GROUP ALLEGES
(Decorah, Iowa)—Driftless Water Defenders, an Iowa non-profit membership corporation focused on water issues in Iowa, has issued Agri Star Meat & Poultry, LLC, and Agri Star General, Inc. a Notice of Violations and Intent to Sue Under the Clean Water Act. Agri Star owns and operates the offending agricultural processing facility located in Postville, Iowa. DWD is represented by Public Justice, FarmSTAND, and Larew Law Office.
The notice alleges that violations of the CWA have occurred and continue to occur at the Agri Star processing facility. Under the Clean Water Act, a permitted facility must self-monitor and self-report its pollution discharges. Agri Star’s reports indicate significant and repeated exceedances of pollution limits in waterways adjacent to the Postville facility for years. In addition, the facility has failed to take and report sampling results for a wide range of additional pollutants.
Upon expiration of the 60-day notice period, DWD intends to seek from the federal district court declaratory and injunctive relief, civil penalties, and all other relief authorized by law.
The notice (a copy of which is attached), describes both Agri Star’s obligations and duties under the CWA and also a long series of violations of the Permit which wrongfully pollute Hecker Creek and the Yellow River, both of which are classified as “navigable waters” of the United States.
Chris Jones, President of DWD, described the reason for the Notice and the membership corporation’s decision to pursue compliance with the law through a civil lawsuit: “The Yellow River has traditionally been one of Iowa’s recreational crown jewels—clean water where citizens can fish, hike, canoe and kayak. The Iowa Code describes our water as the ‘wealth' of the people. If governmental agencies won’t enforce our clean water laws, citizens must step in to do that.”
“The people’s representatives passed the Clean Water Act to stop exactly the industrial pollution this notice letter alleges that Agri Star is allowing,” said Holly Bainbridge, of FarmSTAND, one of the attorneys representing Driftless Water Defenders in this action. “Iowans have a right to a clean Hecker Creek and Yellow River, and the law guarantees that they have a remedy in court when an industrial ag company deprives them of it.”
For more information, please contact directly Daniel C. Snyder (dsnyder@publicjustice.net), Holly Bainbridge (holly@farmSTAND.org), or James C. Larew (James.Larew@LarewLawOffice.com) or (319.541.4240).
ATTACHED: Notice of Violations and Intent to Sue Under the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. section 1251 et seq.
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FarmSTAND is the only legal advocacy organization in the country dedicated solely to taking on industrial animal agriculture. It is focused on dismantling the structures that enable the consolidation of corporate power and extractive practices in our food system, and supports a vision of animal agriculture that is regenerative, humane, and owned by independent farmers.
James C. Larew, of Larew Law Office, has represented clients in civil litigation cases for forty years, including ones involving environmental issues, for more than a decade. He serves as legal counsel for DWD. He formerly served as general counsel and chief of staff to Iowa Governor Chet Culver.
Public Justice combines high-impact litigation, strategic partnerships, and grassroots organizing with targeted communications to shape the narrative about environmental injustice and build empowering relationships with communities most affected by environmental threats and actions. The Public Justice Environmental Enforcement Project holds polluters accountable by enforcing environmental laws and winning groundbreaking results in court to protect our nation's clean water, air, and land—and the people, animals, and ecological communities that rely upon it. For more information, visit PublicJustice.net.
