State Line Agri, an Ansonia, Ind., pork producer, has paid $12,693 to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management to settle a complaint that his hogs' manure killed nearly 47,000 fish in 2008. The company paid the penalty two months after a state inspection found that it had not completed three “supplemental environmental projects” required in an agree order in July 2009, reportsThe Star Press.

At that time, in lieu of paying the civil penalty, owner Rick Kremer agreed to replace existing county drainage tile that is 112 years old, to install a grass and tree buffer along Price Ditch to help filter and reduce potential contaminants, reduce soil erosion and improve wildlife habitat and to install a tree buffer and windbreak around hog buildings to screen, filter and disperse potential air contaminants exhausted from the buildings. The agreed order called for the projects to be completed by July 24, 2010.

Kremer already had reimbursed the Indiana Department of Natural Resources $13,696 for the value of damage to an estimated 46,962 bass, bluegill, carp, catfish, creek chub, darters, minnows, stonerollers, suckers and other fish killed in an eight-mile stretch of Little Mississinewa River. Kremer had land-applied manure when soil and weather conditions were unsuitable.

 

Source: The Star Press