OMAHA (DTN) -- It's a label Callicrate Feeding Company Manager A.J. Jones is having a hard time shaking: polluter.

The St. Francis, Kan., feedlot is included on a list of concentrated animal feeding operations that received administrative compliance orders this summer related to alleged discharges.

Jones said the orders announced in an Aug. 22 news release from EPA, http://dld.bz/…, was like a dagger through the heart -- coming the same day the company received the order and with no indication the company had made any actual discharges like the others had.

Jones said the company is fighting to keep its good name. "The only thing I have of true value is my name and my children," he said. "We still are involved in an industry where your name has value."

Chris Whitley, public affairs specialist for EPA Region 7, said EPA has not identified the company as a polluter.

Rather the company is in violation of the terms of its NPDES, or National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit, he said. "None of those counts alleges any issues with illegal discharges. A facility does not have to be discharging illegally to be in violation of the law," Whitley said.

Whitley said EPA routinely uses press releases to announce compliance actions involving CAFOs.

"No inference is ever intended or implied, as to any single CAFO that might be referenced in a press release, as having violations that are considered more or less serious or severe than the others named in the press release," Whitley said.

In September 2010 the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) notified Callicrate Feeding about the "compliance issues," Whitley said.

"A number of the violations cited by EPA in the compliance order were also identified by KDHE in 2010," he said. "In other words, the violations cited by EPA were not corrected after the state informed Callicrate Feeding Company of the noncompliance."

The violations are considered to be minor, said Terry Medley, section chief of the livestock waste management section of the KDHE.

Widening Divide

Feedlot owner Mike Callicrate, however, says he didn't appreciate the way EPA addressed the problems -- reflecting what appears to be a widening divide between agriculture and the EPA.

In the past couple of weeks Callicrate publicly criticized EPA for what he said is an attempt to make hay a pollutant when it comes to runoff. However, the EPA complaint says nothing about hay. It points to potential nutrient runoff from distillers grains as a concern.

In response to Callicrate's comments, EPA Region 7 Administrator Karl Brooks issued an unusual public response in a news release posted on EPA's website, http://1.usa.gov/….

Although the KDHE calls the feedlot violations "minor," Brooks said the Callicrate problems are "serious environmental violations."

Addressing Concerns

The company was asked to improve record keeping, fix concerns about a planned compost area for a mobile slaughter unit, address concerns about runoff from a feedstock storage area, update the company's nutrient management plan and maintain certain levels in waste retention ponds -- all issues that ultimately will hit the company's bottom line.

Jones said he reached out to business associates, issued an open invitation to the community to visit the feedlot, contacted attorneys, and is working with state officials and an engineering firm to correct the issues cited by EPA.

"What EPA is doing here is trying to bury me a little deeper," Callicrate said. "We never had a complaint in 30 years."

EPA said in the complaint it is considering whether a "penalty is appropriate." Whitley said other CAFOs in situations similar to Callicrate have been fined.

"Prior to Feb. 1 I had never met an EPA inspector or had a conversation with them on this," Jones said. "I would like to see EPA work with producers in a more open manner. That just puts a dark cloud over you when something comes out in the press."

Medley said as part of its discharge permit the feedlot can face between three and seven spot checks per year. He said he has been in his current position since 2003 and Callicrate has had a NPDES permit since 1996.

"Since I've been here they've never had a discharge," Medley said.

It is fairly common for EPA to issue a compliance order following spot checks, he said, and orders often include penalties.

Mobile Slaughter

While Brooks called the violations serious, the EPA's complaint does reflect how detailed the agency can be in its permits and interpretations.

EPA raised concerns about the company's composting plans for a mobile slaughter unit, although state officials already approved of the plans. The KDHE gave the company a temporary permit to compost on a one-half acre location. Jones said it sits some 134 feet above ground-water levels on a sandy area, with less than a 2% grade and some 2 to 3 miles from the Republican River.

Mobile units allow feedlots to do their own processing instead of relying on larger processors, often a distance away from local markets, and still receive the USDA stamp on their products.

EPA said the company cannot compost animal carcasses on the site because it comes from a mobile unit. As a result, EPA said the waste is generated by an industrial process and the area lacks "adequate runoff controls." Jones said the company could legally compost mortalities inside its catch basin on the lot.

In addition, the EPA complaint said Callicrate "failed to maintain adequate storage levels in the wastewater retention structures" and ordered Callicrate to improve its nutrient management plan.

The EPA complaint also raises concern about runoff from the feedlot's feedstock storage that holds distillers grains, hay and silage. Studies have shown nutrients can run off from distillers grains.

Jones said the feedstock is stored north of the feedlot's No. 2 retention pond. Any freshwater stream is diverted around the feedstocks, he said. The feed's only exposure to water is via rainfall, which Jones said is "negligible." Distillers grains are "sweating a little through bales," Jones said. But there is no indication the distillers are leaching into waterways.

EPA Role

Callicrate said he's concerned about the EPA's expanding role in rural America.

"What's the concern now?," he said. "The way EPA is over-reaching and circumventing our local and state authorities, those people on the ground and familiar with our operations. The most important issue: defamation of character. A.J. Jones is a good operator with the highest of integrity. EPA has made him and I look like fools and criminals for no good reason."

Medley said he believes EPA is trying to improve outreach to farmers, but faces staff limitations.

"They are doing a better job than in the past with outreach programs," he said. "It's hard to get to all four states (in Region 7)."

As of Monday the 12,000-head lot housed about 500 head, Callicrate said.

Callicrate said the target on the company's back just got bigger.

"If you're a farmer with 400 head you're on notice," he said. "We don't know where we stand. We answered the order."

Todd Neeley can be reached at todd.neeley@telventdtn.com.

(CC/GH/CZ/SK)

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