EPA To Unveil Pollution Controls
The Environmental Protection Agency will unveil a strategy Thursday, March 5, 1998, for regulating large commercial cattle, hog and poultry farms to control pollution into the nation's waterways, administration sources said
The plan is the first step under the clean water action plan that President Clinton announced last month to control pesticide and nutrient runoffs from farms and urban areas into lakes, rivers and streams
Once formalized through regulations that would be announced later this year, the plan would significantly broaden the federal government's oversight of thousands of commercial livestock and poultry farms across the country
Although some details of the plan could not be learned late Wednesday, officials envision regulating large poultry and other livestock farms much as they do industrial plants under the Clean Water Act. So-called nonpoint agricultural runoff is widely considered as the most significant environmental threat to lakes, rivers and streams
Feedlots would become subject to regular inspections and would be required to obtain pollution permits and to develop plans limiting release of chemicals, manure and other wastes into waterways, officials said
Such pollution has been blamed for excessive nutrients and toxic chemicals getting into lakes and streams, leading to fish kills in many waterways. Waste from poultry farms on the Eastern Shore of Maryland was blamed last summer for an outbreak of the fish-killing microbe Pfiesteria in rivers leading into Chesapeake Bay
Currently states regulate livestock feedlots and large poultry farms. The new requirements would call on feedlot operators to develop plans to properly dispose of wastes and require new inspections to make sure they comply with the plans
Officials said the permits would be required for farms with more than 1,000 cattle, 2,500 swine or 100,000 laying hens. Permits also could be required for smaller farms that are found to pose an environmental hazard to specific environmentally sensitive waterways, officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity
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