EPA Plans New Rule to Strengthen CAFO Waste Management

Date: March 24, 2010

Source: News Room

The EPA is initiating a rulemaking that would require smaller farms to apply for Clean Water Act (CWA) discharge permits and better manage manure runoff. In its February Action Initiation List, the EPA said it is planning to revise its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permitting requirements for concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) in order to broaden the agency's regulatory authority, specifically in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. However, the notice indicates that the rulemaking is likely to become a national blueprint. Under policies promulgated by the Bush administration, smaller operations were exempt and large CAFOs needed discharge permits only in cases where they discharged. Earlier this year, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said "It's our hope that the states will be addressing these pollution sources effectively, and that federal requirements in some or all of the states will ultimately prove unnecessary."

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