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EPA Orders Mahard Egg Farm to Cease and Desist Discharge of Pollutants

Release Date: 09/18/2007
Contact Information: Dave Bary or Tressa Tillman at 214-665-2200 or [email protected]

(Dallas, Texas - Sep. 18, 2007) Based on a citizen’s complaint about the discharge of pollutants into an unnamed tributary to the East Branch of Chigney Sandy Creek, which flows into Dilday Lake in Garvin County, Oklahoma, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has issued a cease and desist administrative order to Mahard Egg Farms’ Boogie Hill facility for violations of the Clean Water Act.

The farm, a Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation, is located approximately nine miles north of Sulphur. The farm has been ordered to immediately stop all discharges of pollutants from its facility. The farm has been given 14 days to remove and properly dispose of any solid waste from the southeast shore of Dilday Lake, and 45 days to submit to EPA a certified summary and photographs documenting completed work.

“We are committed to enforcing the laws that protect the environment and public health,” said EPA Regional Administrator Richard E. Greene. “This order sends a clear message that neither the public nor the EPA will allow this facility to knowingly violate the law.”

In July 2007, EPA inspected the facility, finding numerous violations requiring immediate compliance action. These violations included an unauthorized discharge from the farm’s lagoon into an unnamed tributary to the East Branch of Chigley Sandy Creek, which flows into Dilday Lake. EPA inspectors observed an area along the shore of Dilday Lake where a large amount of lagoon effluent had been deposited. Water and soil sample analyses found ammonium, arsenic, nitrates, phosphorus and fecal coliform indicative of poultry waste.

Based on these findings, the owners and operators of Mahard Egg Farms’ Boogie Hill facility have been ordered to immediately take action to bring the facility into compliance with the Clean Water Act.