Friday, October 28, 2011

EPA seeks comment on alternate, stricter rules for confined animal feeding operations

The Environmental Protection Agency "is hoping to issue a final rule next summer that would require increased reporting at concentrated animal feeding operations," Amanda Peterka reports for Environment & Energy News. EPA has offered two options for the rule. One would be limited to CAFOs in watersheds with "high concentrations of animals, poor-quality soils or other environmental degradation," Peterka writes.

The proposed regulations, which are open for public comment, are "part of a settlement with environmental groups over the agency's Clean Water Act permitting program for CAFOs," Peterka notes. "Environmentalists have long charged that the agency has been lax on regulating manure runoff and water pollution stemming from the large feeding operations." The National Pork Producers Council "opposed the settlements being developed without input from the livestock industry. The organization said it preferred EPA's more targeted reporting approach but questioned the need for the new rule in the first place." (Read more, subscription required)

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