EPA to take over Idaho cattle inspections from state

BOISE – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency plans to take over beef cattle inspections and enforcement in Idaho.

The federal agency informed the Idaho state Department of Agriculture of its intentions in a letter from Ronald Kreizenbeck, EPA’s action regional administrator. Kreizenbeck said the state wasn’t doing enough to ensure that beef cattle operations comply with the federal Clean Water Act.

“ISDA has not made significant progress in addressing serious program deficiencies,” Kreizenbeck wrote.

The department has been in charge of monitoring discharge waste from beef operations since 2000, under an agreement with the EPA, the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality and the Idaho Cattle Association.

“The purpose of the (memorandum of understanding) is to have the Department of Ag assist in implementing federal authority,” said Mike Bussell, director of compliance and enforcement with EPA. “We’re feeling that it’s important for us to reassert ourselves.”

State agricultural department spokesman Wayne Hoffman said Monday that the department was still reviewing the implications of the EPA’s letter.

The EPA has had concerns about the state’s monitoring efforts nearly since the agreement was made, Kreizenbeck said.

So has the Idaho Conservation League, said Lauren McLean, the group’s community conservation associate. “This action is one step forward for public health to make sure that pollution from those facilities doesn’t get into Idaho’s water,” McLean said.

The letter does not affect the state’s role in monitoring dairy operations. In fact, Bussell said, the state agricultural department does a good job of monitoring dairies.

“We had hoped to mimic that on the beef cattle side,” he said. “They just haven’t been successful.”

Lloyd Knight, the executive vice president of the Idaho Cattle Association, says the EPA’s letter is “extremely frustrating.”

Knight said the agriculture department has conducted more annual inspections since it’s been monitoring beef cattle operations than the EPA did before 2000. He said his organization isn’t ready to give up the agreement.