A Fish Fight: Trout Farm Appeals to State Board Over Pollution Regulations
By Matt Christensen, The Times-News, Twin Falls, Idaho
Dec. 7–A Magic Valley fish farm is asking a state board to review an Idaho Department of Environ-mental Quality decision to limit how much the facility can pollute Warm Springs, a tributary of the Snake River.
Pristine Springs, a company that raises rainbow trout and tilapia on Warm Springs, says the DEQ’s certification of a pollution management plan could hurt its ability to raise fish.
The company wants the state Board of Environmental Quality to overrule the DEQ and require the department to order a new certification with less-stringent controls.
Essentially, the company wants to pollute more than the government is willing to allow.
The pollution plan limits how much phosphorous, among other pollutants, the farm can discharge into the tributary.
Phosphorous is known to cause algae blooms that can diminish water quality and reduce oxygen critical to wild fish and aquatic plants.
Both the state and federal government have clamped down on phosphorous in recent years.
In December, the federal Environmental Pro-tection Agency began issuing a new set of permits to decrease aquaculture pollution in the Snake and its tributaries.
The EPA wants to cut phosphorous pollution by 40 percent.
The EPA permits include a pollution cap-and-trade program — similar to another federal program for mercury — that allows producers to trade pollution credits on an open market.
Pristine Springs made a similar plea to the state board two years ago, saying a DEQ pollution plan that set phosphorous limits for 99 fish farms, mostly on the Snake, should not apply to Warm Springs. The company also argued the department was too strict in its limits.
The board sided with the DEQ, and Pristine Springs appealed in district court, where the case is pending. Pristine Springs’ most recent appeal awaits a hearing before the state board.
Calls to the company’s Jerome offices were not returned.
Matt Christensen may be reached at 735-3243 or at matt.christensen@lee.net.
—–
To see more of The Times-News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.magicvalley.com
Copyright (c) 2007, The Times-News, Twin Falls, Idaho
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.