EPA ISSUES SUPPLEMENTAL RULES FOR ANIMAL FEEDING OPERATIONS
News Date March 10, 2008
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is seeking comment on additional options being considered for the agency's 2006 rulemaking on concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) and requirements for Clean Water Act (CWA) permits. A federal appeals court case required EPA to revise several policy issues contained in the original 2003 and 2006 CAFO rules.
This supplemental proposal would provide a voluntary option for CAFOs to certify to the permitting authority that they do not discharge or propose to discharge and therefore do not need a Clean Water Act (CWA) permit. The agency is also proposing a framework for identifying the terms of the nutrient management plan (NMP) and offers three alternative approaches for addressing application rates of manure, litter, and process wastewater when identifying terms of the NMP to be included in the permit.
In July 2007, EPA set February 27, 2009 as the new date for newly defined CAFOs to seek CWA permit coverage and for permitted CAFOs to develop and implement nutrient management plans (NMPs) as required by EPA's 2003 CAFO rule.
Comments on the supplemental proposal are due by April 7, 2008. Additional information is available on EPA's website at http://www.epa.gov/npdes/afo/revisedrule. (Contact: Charlie Ingram)