According to a recent news story, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency just gave a slap-on-the-wrist fine to a big cattle feedlot in northwest Iowa for “unauthorized wastewater discharges” that occurred over three consecutive days in March 2021. That seems like the wrong thing to do.

The fine could’ve been $205,335 — up to $68,445 a day for three straight days of manure discharges. But instead, EPA went with a $20,000 fine because the feedlot has a “limited ability to pay a civil penalty.” My question is: if it’s short on cash to pay for its environmental violations, why are we allowing the feedlot to operate? And on top of that, reducing the fine by 90% sends a “it’s ok to pollute” message to other factory farms across the state. We shouldn’t be doing that.

Is it any wonder Iowa has over 700 impaired and threatened waterways? Weak enforcement leads to dirty water. If we’re serious about cleaning up our water, we need to crack down on polluters with much tougher fines and penalties.