Source: Tom Johnston, MEATINGPLACE, 10/27/11

The Environmental Protection Agency has published in the Federal Register a proposed rule providing two ways to obtain information from concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) to help the feds enforce federal water-quality standards.

EPA is proposing two options for collecting facility-specific information to ensure CAFOs are complying with the federal Clean Water Act. Under one option, the agency would be authorized to collect information from all CAFOs. The other option would allow the agency to get the information from CAFOs located within areas identified as having water-quality issues “likely associated with CAFOs.”

“However, EPA would make every reasonable effort to assess the utility of existing publicly available data and programs to obtain identifying information about CAFOs by working with partners at the Federal, state, and local level before determining whether an information collection request is necessary,” a summary of the proposed rule states.

EPA also is requesting comment on three alternative approaches to gather information about CAFOs related to water-quality compliance.

The comment deadline for the proposed rule is Dec. 20. Comments can be submitted at www.regulations.gov using the docket number EPA-HQ-OW-2011-0188.

EPA said it plans to hold two webinars in November to address questions about the proposed rule.
 

For more stories, go to www.meatingplace.com.