‘Sweetheart Deal’ Reached for Polluting Slaughterhouse

In Postville, Iowa, Agri Star Meat and Poultry LLC was fined $50,000 on July 30, 2025, by state Attorney General Brenna Bird, on behalf of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, for approximately 60 violations over the past few years. The plant has long been a source of both employment and controversy in the community. According to advocates suing the plant for its water pollution, this settlement represents the Iowa government’s lackadaisical approach to regulating the agricultural industry. They are challenging this decision.

Chris Jones, president of Driftless Water Defenders, a nonprofit advocacy group at the center of a lawsuit against Agri Star, tells Sentient that moves like this encourage continued violations.

“The message it says to polluters across Iowa is it’s okay to pollute, and the consequences for doing so are so light that most of the operations like this can just see it as a cost of doing business,” Jones says.

In February, several advocacy groups, including Iowa-based Driftless Water Defenders, sued Agri Star for illegally discharging animal waste into public waterways in amounts that exceed its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit. This permit is a result of the Clean Water Act and regulates pollutant discharge from point sources such as slaughterhouses. In their lawsuit, the nonprofit group is seeking civil penalties and injunctive relief, which would require Agri Star to come into compliance with its permit. These penalties could total tens of millions, at $68,000 per violation, per day, over a four-year period.
The Iowa attorney general’s action against Agri Star imposes a $50,000 fine, which is less than the penalty for one single day of violation under the Clean Water Act. The company has until December 2026 to meet permit requirements, allowing potential violations to continue for the next 15 months. Jones says Iowans need “immediate action,” arguing that the attorney general’s enforcement signals polluters they can ignore their violations.

In a press release, attorney Dan Snyder, representing the nonprofit legal advocacy group Public Justice, said that they “were blindsided by this state-court settlement.” He also said that Driftless Water Defenders was not notified in advance, despite being a party to the lawsuit.

Agri Star dumps its wastewater into the Yellow River, the longest cold water trout stream in the state, popular among boaters, fishers and swimmers. Today, the river is considered “impaired” due to ongoing pollution issues linked to Agri Star.

“The sweetheart deal made between Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, on behalf of the Iowa DNR, and Agri Star, after the DNR’s multi-year failure to enforce Agri Star’s federal Clean Water Act effluent permits, is a mere slap on the wrist,” Driftless Water Defenders general counsel Jim Larew wrote to Sentient. “It sets a very poor example for protecting the Yellow River, one of Iowa’s most beloved, pristine and vulnerable waterways.”

Driftless Water Defenders filed a “Motion to Intervene,” stating that citizens were denied the opportunity to intervene in state enforcement actions due to the lack of notice. They are calling the court to reconsider the settlement.

Agri Star, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird did not respond to a request for comment.