Republican Rep. Andy Holt Under Investigation

Investigation Stems From Improper Dumping of Nearly a Million Gallons Of Pig Excrement

After months of investigation, the Environmental Protection Agency has sent Republican State Representative Andy Holt a "show cause" letter related to his numerous years of operating without a permit and the 800,000 gallons of hog waste he dumped into local fields and streams.

"I don’t know which is more disgusting", said Mary Mancini, Chair of the Tennessee Democratic Party, "the fact that he dumped nearly a million gallons of hog excrement into local streams and neighbors' fields or the fact that he used his position as a legislator to cover it up."

During the original WTVF-TV investigation, reporters found that enforcement against the Republican was discouraged by upper management.

"Andy Holt is just another Republican who wants special treatment for themselves but refuses to create opportunity for his constituents."

As a legislator, Rep. Holt, who ran a large pig farming operation, has sponsored and supported a number of bills aimed at making it more difficult to identify and investigate cases of animal abuse. This includes the "ag-gag" bill which would criminalize most citizen efforts at animal abuse investigation as well as others aimed at creating hurdles to recording instances of animal abuse.

"Democrats fight for strong families and communities, clearly these are not things that Representative Holt values or he wouldn’t have dumped 800,000 gallons of hog waste into the streams that are part of local drinking sources or sprayed it into his neighbors' yards and across a state highway," said Mancini.