Dubuque County Dairy Farmers Must Pay Penalty For Runoff

Two Dubuque County dairy farmers have been ordered to pay more than $11,000 for manure runoff that officials say killed 238 fish. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources has ordered that William and Jeff Lawler, of Lawler Family Dairy in rural Peosta, pay a $10,000 administrative penalty and over $1,100 in fish restitution and administrative costs. They must also take several other actions, including submit a plan of action for approval to ensure there is adequate manure storage and proper manure land application. The penalty was tied to a fish kill reported in March 2019. DNR investigators linked the kill and other issues to runoff from Lawler Dairy. According to the DNR, the owners of the dairy farm applied liquid manure to a nearby field, and due to snowmelt and rainfall, the manure ran into a nearby ravine and through a tile intake into an unnamed tributary located along Graf Road north of Peosta. The unnamed tributary runs into the Little Maquoketa River.