Large feedlots, a.k.a. CAFOs, have become the bane of southern Idaho, polluting the water (as told by this story) and the air. . . . hold your nose as you travel about 150 miles of Interstate 80 across southern Idaho.
Feedlot agrees to pay fine to settle Clean Water Act violations. Idaho Statesman.
Oh, for identification purposes, Eric Davis, is the owner of the feedlot. He is a former president of the National Cattlemen’s Association.
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Ralph Maughan
Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University with specialties in natural resource politics, public opinion, interest groups, political parties, voting and elections. Aside from academic publications, he is author or co-author of three hiking/backpacking guides, and he is President of the Western Watersheds Project.
What a fine example Eric Davis is; of not only leading the wildlife-unfriendly beef production industry but also of being such a fine steward of the land…
“Davis, one of the state’s most prominent cattlemen and a former president of the National Cattlemen’s Association, was told in February 2006 that an EPA inspection determined his Bruneau facility had been discharging wastewater into the South Side Canal numerous times in the last five years.”
“Federal regulators say the feedlot enforcement program operated by the Idaho State Department of Agriculture is improving, but is not sufficient to protect the state’s waterways.”
Apparently EPA has made an example of Davis *and* Idaho. Those damn feds – meddling in Idaho’s wildlife unfriendly cattle business yet again…
How do you separate the wildlife-unfriendly beef producers of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming from their state legislators? With a crowbar.