After years of dodging and weaving with state and federal officials about issues with his hog farm, state Rep. Andy Holt is facing up to a $177,500 fine from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for allegedly violating the Clean Water Act.
As reported by WTVF-TV, Holt is in the process of "negotiating what the terms of settlement will be," but found the fine to be "stiff" and said he "loves a good fight."
The agency says he dumped a total of more than 860,000 gallons of waste water in three days from his overflowing lagoons into a tributary leading to the Mississippi River without authorization. The incidents occurred on two back-to-back days in 2011 and one day in 2013 although the EPA says that it has evidence of more incidents outside the five-year statute of limitations.
Holt, vice-chair of the state House's Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee, abandoned the pig farming business around December of 2014, focusing more on a pumpkin farm and his wife's soap making. But the state had been hunting him down for years while he operated his hog operation without a permit, and the EPA has said he hasn't answered questions about pumping out waste from his lagoons.
Other issues have speckled the farmer's past, such as an inspector saying enforcement action against Holt was "discouraged by upper management" after finding improperly buried hogs on Holt's farm along with the 2011 dumping. Holt has publicly criticized the EPA, calling it a politicized agency. And Gov. Bill Haslam has vetoed one of Holt's bills, saying the legislation would have reduced criminal penalties for pollution.
Holt has stressed to Pith and to the TV station that he self-reported to the state any time he had to pump waste from his lagoon, which is apparent in the EPA filing and other state records with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. Here's the EPA complaint against Holt.
