Wickstrum Farms Inc. and Wickstrum Cattle LLC
Outcome
Wickstrum Farms Inc. and Wickstrum Cattle LLC agreed to pay a combined $70,000 civil penalty and construct additional runoff controls after a 2023 EPA inspection documented uncontrolled discharges of nutrients, organic matter, pathogens, and other pollutants from their approximately 9,862-head combined cattle feedlot operation into tributaries of Pleasant Run Creek in Pottawatomie County, Kansas.
Details
Wickstrum Farms Inc. and Wickstrum Cattle LLC — CAFO Runoff Discharges to Pleasant Run Creek, Kansas (2025)
Outcome: Wickstrum Farms Inc. and Wickstrum Cattle LLC agreed to pay a combined $70,000 civil penalty and construct additional runoff control infrastructure, resolving Clean Water Act violations documented during a 2023 EPA inspection of the combined approximately 9,862-head cattle feedlot operation in Pottawatomie County, Kansas.
Wickstrum Farms Inc. and Wickstrum Cattle LLC operated a combined beef cattle feedlot operation in Pottawatomie County, Kansas confining approximately 9,862 head of cattle. During an EPA inspection conducted in 2023, agency officials observed uncontrolled discharges flowing from the feedlot operations and entering tributaries to Pleasant Run Creek without NPDES permit authorization. The observed discharges contained nutrients, organic matter, total suspended solids, pathogens, and volatile compounds derived from manure and feed waste — the characteristic pollutant profile of concentrated animal feeding operation runoff.
The settlement, announced January 17, 2025, required the two entities to pay a combined $70,000 civil penalty and implement the required additional runoff control infrastructure to contain stormwater and process wastewater within the facility boundaries. The companies had already constructed additional controls by the time of the settlement announcement, addressing the sources of the observed discharges.
The Wickstrum case is representative of the ongoing cattle feedlot enforcement dynamic in the Great Plains: facilities that operate above CAFO thresholds without adequate containment infrastructure, relying on dry conditions to prevent violations, but producing documented discharges when inspected or when rain events drive runoff. Kansas's concentration of beef feeding operations in counties draining to the Kansas River and its tributaries makes runoff compliance a continuing EPA enforcement priority in the region.
Primary Source: EPA Fines Kansas Cattle Farms for Alleged Clean Water Act Violations | US EPA
How Crucible Prevents This
Wickstrum's violation — observed uncontrolled discharges during a 2023 EPA inspection — reflects the absence of a monitoring and self-inspection program that would detect runoff before regulators do. Crucible's compliance calendar tracking NPDES self-inspection schedules, combined with session-init MEMORY reviewing the status of required runoff control infrastructure, would surface inadequate containment before an EPA field inspection creates the evidentiary record driving enforcement. The required additional runoff controls were straightforward infrastructure fixes that earlier self-assessment would have identified.
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