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EPA Takes Penalty Action against Manheim Farm for Unpermitted Waste Discharges

Release Date: 09/21/2010
Contact Information: David Sternberg 215-814-5548 sternberg.david@epa.gov

(PHILADELPHIA – September 21, 2010) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced that it has issued an Administrative Penalty Order in the amount of $6,000 to Melvin and Moses Petersheim of Manheim Pa. for illegally discharging pollutants from their Manheim farm to a nearby stream without a required Clean Water Act permit.

On April 1, EPA inspected the farm of Melvin Petersheim, who owns farmland on which he operates an egg-laying operation with approximately 36,000 hens. His brother Moses has a dairy operation with about 80 dairy cows on the same property.

The inspection determined the Petersheims did not have a permit, but were discharging pollutants, including nitrogen and phosphorus from animal manure and milkhouse washwater into a tributary of Chickies Creek, a tributary of the Susquehanna River.

On June 1, EPA ordered the Petersheims to cease discharging pollutants to the waters, or obtain the required permits, and comply with the permits by implementing the required pollution reduction measures.

The farm is located in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. This action is part of the Agency’s multi-state, multi-media compliance and enforcement strategy to improve water quality in local waterways and the Bay.

EPA will continue conducting inspections of farms in the Lancaster County area over the coming months.

For more information about the Chesapeake Bay watershed compliance and enforcement strategy visit https://www.epa.gov/compliance/civil/initiatives/chesapeakebay.html.