EPA Fines Kansas Cattle Farms for Alleged Clean Water Act Violations
LENEXA, KAN. (JAN. 17, 2025) – Cattle feedlot operators Wickstrum Farms Inc. and Wickstrum Cattle LLC of Pottawatomie County, Kansas, will pay a combined $70,000 in civil penalties to resolve alleged violations of the federal Clean Water Act.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the companies failed to comply with multiple Clean Water Act permit requirements, resulting in discharges of pollution into local streams.
“Unauthorized pollution discharges threaten the health of our nation’s waters and public use and enjoyment of those waters,” said EPA Region 7 Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Division Director David Cozad. “This settlement demonstrates EPA’s commitment to protecting watersheds and creating a level playing field for businesses who are complying with the law.”
In the settlement documents, EPA alleges that the companies’ facilities contained approximately 9,862 head of cattle combined. During a 2023 inspection, EPA observed uncontrolled discharges from the feedlots entering into tributaries to Pleasant Run Creek. The operators have since constructed additional runoff controls and have addressed the causes of the discharges.
Pollution associated with manure, feed, and other animal waste runoff may include nutrients (particularly nitrogen and phosphorus), organic matter, solids, pathogens, and odorous/volatile compounds.
Under the Clean Water Act, animal feeding operations that contain threshold numbers of livestock are required to obtain permits and follow the requirements outlined in those permits to reduce pollution runoff. Failure to obtain a permit or to follow the requirements of a permit may violate federal law.
Learn more about EPA’s Clean Water Act enforcement.
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