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NM agency proposes to fine dairy $15,000HOBBS, N.M. (AP)--The state Environment Department proposes to fine a Hobbs dairy owned by a man identified as "Ed the Dairyman" by GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin. The state alleges the dairy failed to install a monitoring well to check groundwater conditions beneath its property, and on Nov. 4 issued a compliance order and a proposed $15,000 penalty to Eddie Schaap's High Lonesome Dairy. Schaap told The Associated Press on Nov. 5 that he has installed three wells on his property but that he and the agency have not been able to agree on some parameters for the fourth well, including its screen length and location. Schaap said the agency wanted him to put the well near a feed area and manure lines. "I've been in this business for 22 years and my experience has been that sooner or later somebody is going to hit it and it's going to get damaged and it's going to cause groundwater contamination," he said. "I don't want to risk that." Schaap said he hoped to continue negotiations with the state to resolve the issue. Schaap had a brief moment of fame last month as Ed the Dairyman. Palin alluded several times to "Ed the Dairyman" at a rally in Roswell after seeing someone in the crowd holding a sign identifying Schaap that way. "Barack Obama calls it spreading the wealth. Joe Biden calls higher taxes patriotic," Palin said. "But Joe the Plumber and Ed the Dairyman, I believe they think it sounds more like socialism." Schaap later said Palin's remark was accurate and he wasn't in favor of Obama's tax plan. Ohio plumber Joe Wurzelbacher became famous after he met Obama and said the Democrat's tax proposal could keep him from buying the two-man plumbing company where he works. Republican presidential nominee John McCain made the effect of taxes on "Joe the Plumber" part of his campaign strategy. The Environment Department acknowledged that Schaap installed three of the four wells required, but the order requires him to install the fourth within 30 days. The well is required under a permit for Schaap's dairy, which lies near several residences that have drinking water wells. Department Secretary Ron Curry said Schaap agreed to permit terms designed to protect groundwater resources and public health, but failed to live up to them. "We have been more than generous in the amount of time we have given High Lonesome Dairy to install monitoring wells," Curry said. The agency said Schaap agreed in 2003 to install monitoring wells but did not. In 2006, the department issued Schaap a discharge permit renewal and modification under which he agreed to a new installation date, but did not finish installing the wells, the agency said. State Water Quality Control Commission Regulations require dairy owners to install monitoring wells to detect whether a dairy's pollution prevention measures protect public health and water quality. Schaap said samples taken from the wells already completed show that nitrate levels are well below the tolerance. 11/17/08 Date: 11/13/08 Advertisement
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