Iowa dairy farmer convicted in milk, manure dumping

WASHINGTON – Carl Simon, owner and operator of Simon Dairy in Farley, Iowa, was convicted on Dec. 2 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa in Cedar Rapids on four counts of violating the Clean Water Act.
Simon was charged with dumping cow manure and waste milk into Hogan’s Branch, a tributary of the Mississippi River.
The discharges occurred between May of 2003 and January of 2004.
Simon was accused of disposing of the cow manure by using a honey wagon and by using two 80-foot trenches dug from his dairy manure lagoon to a steep embankment overlooking Hogan’s Branch.
He was also accused of discharging the waste milk into Hogan’s Branch by using a four-inch PVC pipe.
Simon was previously placed under an administrative order and fined $5,000 for illegal discharges into the Branch.
He refused to pay the fine or make any of the changes in his disposal practices required by the administrative order.
Dumping cow manure and waste milk into surface waters can make the waters unfit for human use and can harm fish and wildlife. The case was investigated by the Iowa Attorney General’s Office, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, the IDNR and the St. Louis Office of EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division. The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Cedar Rapids.