Feedlot fined after damaging refuge

A company that operates a large feedlot near Bertrand was fined $12,000 and put on three years of probation for dumping livestock waste into a federally owned waterfowl refuge, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Nebraska.

It has been two years since authorities first complained that waste from the Dahlgren Cattle Co.’s feedlot flowed from a drainage ditch into the Cottonwood Waterfowl Production Area, an isolated, 560-acre wetland that provides resting and feeding areas for birds during the spring and fall migration period.

The company eventually pleaded guilty to malicious mischief to government property, and must now serve the three-year probation sentence in addition to paying the fine. Dahlgren must allow authorities access to the feedlot during its probation so the lot can be inspected for other violations.

Dahlgren also had to pay civil penalties for a separate waste discharge that occurred in November 2002.

— Juan Perez Jr.

« Crime/Courts

Share