( Iowa Capital Dispatch ) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Wynja Feedlot in Orange City have reached a settlement of $20,000 for the feedlot’s unpermitted wastewater discharges.

EPA can charge up to $68,445 per day of Clean Water Act violations, but the agency lowered the charge on the basis that the feedlot had “a limited ability to pay a civil penalty.”

In addition to the fee, Wynja Feedlot Inc., a 999-head capacity cattle feedlot, is required to apply for a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, or NPDES, permit, construct a lined containment basin, and sample discharges from the surrounding tile for possible pollutants.

EPA discovered in March 2021 that the confined animal feeding operation had been discharging wastewater through a drainage pipe that led to

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