7-19 IAN Follow EPA Rules

The Environmental Protection Agency has agreed to tighten the oversight of animal feedlots, where bacteria, viruses, and parasites from animal waste can pollute nearby waterways, under a settlement filed May 25 to resolve a lawsuit by environmental groups.

 Under the final settlement agreement, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, EPA agreed to propose a rule within one year to require all concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, to submit details to the agency about their operations and to update the information every five years.

Rancher and lawyer Owen Ornborff has the answer: “I run less than 1000 animals and I only run them for 4 months and I get inspected and I’m very careful not to let water out of my confined area.”

 The requirement to submit information would apply to all CAFOs, not only those that are now required to have permits under the Clean Water Act. EPA also agreed to make publicly available by May 28, 2010, a guidance document to help authorities implement National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit regulations.