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EPA: Hog farm caused spill in Stillwater River

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By Nancy Bowman, Staff Writer 8:42 AM Wednesday, August 5, 2009

UNION TWP., Miami County — An apparent hazardous material spill which reached the Stillwater River on July 26 and killed fish along the way has been traced to manure from a Darke County hog farm, an Ohio Environmental Protection Agency official said this week.

The EPA and Ohio Department of Natural Resources were called to assist after the Pleasant Hill-Newton Twp. Fire Department was dispatched the afternoon of July 26 to investigate a substance with a sewage smell in Canyon Run Creek, near the 300 block of Shiloh Road in Miami County.

Jim Crawford of the EPA’s Dayton office said the substance’s trail led investigators to the Ditmer Family Farm on Red River West Grove Road in Darke County.

The farm has a manure lagoon that is pumped and the manure sprayed on fields, Crawford said. A line break around July 24 allowed manure to get into a field tile and flow west underground to Canyon Run Creek and, eventually, the river, he said.

The substance resulted in a fish kill of just more than 3,000 minnows and other fish, said Ken Fitz, law enforcement program administrator for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

Fitz said the manure affected about 4.5 miles of water way. A bill for the fish kill of $1,487 will be sent to the farm, he said.

Crawford said at this point the incident is being considered an accidental spill.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2292 or nbowman@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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In response to Angie: Did you get your new PETA magazine in the mail today or do you always have a CORN COB stuck up your butt? I bet you are a total vegetarian with no sense of how meat production goes on. GET A LIFE! Accidents happen! Move on...

Ashley K
3:21 PM, 8/23/2009

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1487 looks like $.50 per minnow to me.

John
8:02 AM, 8/7/2009

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quote:
"If it is an accident then why bill them? It is tough enough to be a farmer these days with out having stupid stuff take more money away."

Yeah, especially with all the subsidies (free money) given them by our government. ( said with sarcasm)

Doc
4:16 PM, 8/5/2009

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That's not farming, that's simply poisoning America. If you're generating so much waste that this possibility even exists, you've got too many animals with too much manure in too small an area. Most people have no idea what these large scale facilities are doing, or what is going into the meat they're eating. If they did, they certainly wouldn't be lamenting the poor farmer's little slap on the wrist, they'd be asking how the USDA and the FDA can continue to let them "feed" us that way.

Angie
3:52 PM, 8/5/2009

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How did they come up with a total of 1487? I guarantee they won't be buying any fish with the money.

Drew
3:46 PM, 8/5/2009

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