Mike Clifford Posted January 11, 2012 Report Share Posted January 11, 2012 This took over 2 1/2 years to settle. An Iroquois County swine facility has agreed to pay more than $81,000 in fines to the state for illegally discharging livestock waste into a rural creek in 2009. Attorney General Lisa Madigan announced an agreement a few weeks ago with R3E, a limited liability corporation, at 985 N County Road 200 E in rural Iroquois County, for killing for than 110,000 fish across more than 19 miles of Spring Creek and one of its tributaries. Under the agreement, R3E must pay $17,500 in civil penalties to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. In addition, R3E must pay $63,782 to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources for the value of fish killed by the waste discharge. According to Robyn Ziegler, a spokeswoman for the attorney general's office, the Illinois Emergency Management Agency notified the Illinois EPA on July 20, 2009, that liquid swine manure from the R3E's manure holding ponds left the holding pond on July 19, 2009, and reached a drainage tile below the surface, flowing from there into a tributary of Spring Creek. Within 12 hours, an estimated 200,000 gallons of liquid manure was released into the tributary. The contamination continued downstream for several miles, killing fish and other aquatic life, Ziegler said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eugene f collins Posted January 12, 2012 Report Share Posted January 12, 2012 Happy to read that this was resolved........ I think they got off cheap!! Estimate of 200,000 gallons. Stay on em Everyone. And Thank you Mike. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike G Posted January 12, 2012 Report Share Posted January 12, 2012 Thanks for the good news, Mike. Where lawyers are reconed, two and a half years is a short time from event to settlement. Looking at the case, I suspect that it was so open and shut that even their lawyers could not find a dodge. I am glad to hear they paid the penalty, but prevention is the way to go. We need some help from the Department of Agriculture there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Dodge Posted January 12, 2012 Report Share Posted January 12, 2012 I have a question........ Isn't "liquid manure" sometimes used as a fertilizer on feilds? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Clifford Posted January 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2012 Yes, the manure is spread on fields. Mike G- The IDOA offers their "help" by rubber stamping every CAFO that is proposed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike G Posted January 13, 2012 Report Share Posted January 13, 2012 Yes, the manure is spread on fields. Mike G- The IDOA offers their "help" by rubber stamping every CAFO that is proposed. Mike, I figured they would. Ag is business, and business is jobs. Anybody against jobs? That brings us to the the crux of the problem. The fishers and the farmers should be friends to paraphrase Okalhoma. But they are far apart. Restricting AG is restricting one of the few going industries we have in the state. So we fishers can spend our time COMPLAINING IN UPPERCASE or get down to figuring it out. By figuring it out I mean accepting that there is a big lump of special interest behind agribusiness. They are used to fielding complaints by our friends in PETA and other tree huggers. So they are not going to cave in when we get dewy eyed about a few fish. To get their attention some serious economic value has to be shown. The Ag folks are businessmen afterall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Clifford Posted January 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2012 Mike, I figured they would. Ag is business, and business is jobs. Anybody against jobs? That brings us to the the crux of the problem. The fishers and the farmers should be friends to paraphrase Okalhoma. But they are far apart. Restricting AG is restricting one of the few going industries we have in the state. So we fishers can spend our time COMPLAINING IN UPPERCASE or get down to figuring it out. By figuring it out I mean accepting that there is a big lump of special interest behind agribusiness. They are used to fielding complaints by our friends in PETA and other tree huggers. So they are not going to cave in when we get dewy eyed about a few fish. To get their attention some serious economic value has to be shown. The Ag folks are businessmen afterall. I agree. It is a slippery slope, however. From an article I posted earlier: "Trans Canada Energy’s plans to install a pipeline from Alberta, through six states to U.S. refineries states up to 20,000 jobs will be created; the company admitted later that only a few hundred jobs might be created. The U.S. State Department estimates only about 20 full time permanent jobs would be created." Therein lies the problem. The Megadairy folks in J.D. County threw numbers around as well, and under scrutiny admitted that their feed would come from suppliers out of state, veterinarians as well. Very few people put to work, balanced against what the resource does for the economy and of course the damages done to that resource. Slippery indeed..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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