State reaches settlement agreement with Tinedale Farms

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Tinedale Farms Partnership LLP recently reached a settlement agreement with the state of Wisconsin in which the Wrightstown dairy operation will pay $50,000 for alleged violations of its Wisconsin Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit.

Tinedale Farms, located in Brown County, allegedly allowed silage leachate — the seepage from silage piles in bags, bunkers or silos — to run off of a production area into a tributary of Apple Creek. According to the complaint filed in Brown County Circuit Court, a state Department of Natural Resources conservation warden responded to a complaint regarding a possible manure spill May 28 and 29, 2010, in Apple Creek. The warden reportedly observed conditions in the creek both upstream and downstream from the farms and discovered that the downstream area was brown in color and bubbly. He also noted small fish were dead in the water and brown scum was present along the creek’s bank.

A DNR agricultural runoff specialist reportedly observed leachate runoff from Tinedale Farms’ feed bunkers June 1, 2010, as well as dead vegetation and ponded leachate in the ditch line running east from the feed pad to a navigable tributary of the creek. The specialist claimed she also observed ponded leachate in the tributary and dead vegetation in the small channel around the tile line behind the feed bunkers.

Further downstream from Tinedale Farms, the water at various points of the tributary allegedly was dark in color and/or odorous, with evidence of fish mortality along parts of the banks. The specialist reportedly investigated other potential contamination sources in the watershed and found no evidence of another source of the discharge besides Tinedale Farms.

According to Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, the leachate runoff was not an allowable discharge under Tinedale Farms’ WPDES permit because it did not occur as a result of the listed exceptions. The permit authorized Tinedale Farms to discharge to the groundwater of the Lower Fox River Basin, Duck-Water-Ashwaubenon Watershed. Section 1.1 of the permit, however, prohibited discharge of manure or process wastewater pollutants to navigable waters from the production area. Under Wis. Admin. Code §§ 243.03(53) and (d), process wastewater included “wastewater from the production area directly or indirectly used in the operation of animal feeding operation that results from any or all of the following . . . Water that comes into contact with any raw materials or animal byproducts including manure, feed, milk, eggs, or bedding.”

The DNR agricultural runoff specialist reportedly met with Tinedale Farms on June 1, 2010, to discuss the discharge complaints and follow-up inspection. However, Tinedale Farms apparently did not notify the DNR in writing of the May 28, 2010, discharge until Aug. 13, 2010. Tinedale Farm’s failure to orally report the release within 24 hours of becoming aware of the discharge and additional failure to provide written information about the release within five days of becoming aware of the discharge was a violation of the WPDES permit section 3.1.15, Wis. Admin. Code § NR 243.31(2), and Wis. Stat. § 283.91(2).

In addition, the state accused Tinedale Farms of failing to perform visual inspections of feed storage bunkers, failing to timely submit plans and specifications for permanent feed storage runoff controls, and failing to timely install maximum operating level markers in its previously constructed manure storage pits, in violation of its permit.

The parties reached a settlement agreement. Pursuant to the stipulation and order for judgment signed by the plaintiff and defendant Aug. 24, judgment was to be entered in favor of the state of Wisconsin and against Tinedale Farms in the amount of $50,000. That sum consisted of forfeitures of $31,546 under Wis. Stat. § 283.91(2), a 26 percent penalty surcharge of $8,202, a 20 percent environmental surcharge of $6,309, attorney fees of $3,500 and other assorted costs and fees.