A Templeton farmer has indicated he neither admits nor denies any wrongdoing, but has entered into a settlement agreement with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) on the alleged discharge of effluent into a waterway. Late last week, Brian Behrens signed a consent order that will have him paying an administrative penalty of $2,500, will restrict the number of cattle allowed on the feedlot and have him implementing a plan of action to construct control structures for effluent and runoff. The DNR reports that during a routine inspection on May 2, 2018, an environmental specialist observed overflow from two solid waste settling basins at the lot that had 730 head of non-dairy cattle on it at that time. The discharge had flowed downhill, through road culverts and into an unnamed tributary of the East Nishnabotna River. Testing conducted on four points in and around the discharge showed increased levels of E. coli bacteria, ammonia as nitrogen, biochemical oxygen demand and total suspended solids. In June of 2018, a notice of violation was issued to Behrens and the next month a contractor was retained for improvements. In November of that same year, the DNR specialist discovered that construction had not started and would not for an indefinite period of time. In the Administrative Consent Order, Behrens has been given until June 30 of this year to finish that construction, barring any weather-related delays, and ordered to limit the herd to 300 in the 999-head capacity feedlot until the plan of action is implemented.
