The EPA will quickly start finding out how concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) influence water high quality. The outcomes of that research may result in extra stringent rules for livestock operations.
Along with evaluating the consequences of CAFOs, EPA plans to increase its research of PFAS discharges from textile producers and create a brand new research of business discharges to publicly owned therapy works. All three initiatives are a part of the company’s newly launched Effluent Pointers Program Plan 15.
“This Effluent Pointers Program Plan represents a crucial subsequent step to sort out pollution like PFAS and vitamins on the supply earlier than they’ll hurt our well being and the setting,” EPA Assistant Administrator for Water Radhika Fox stated. “With this motion, EPA continues to show our dedication to utilizing the perfect accessible knowledge and therapy applied sciences to cut back dangerous industrial pollution.”
CAFOS are regulated underneath the Clear Water Act. Whereas rules differ from state to state, federal regulation solely requires permits for operations recognized to discharge waste. In response to EPA statistics, lower than a 3rd of the nation’s greater than 21,000 CAFOs have permits.
Environmental teams contend that present guidelines fail to forestall air pollution. They are saying regulatory loopholes in addition to practices like insufficient runoff management and improper manure spreading are harming communities close to giant livestock operations.
In 2017, a gaggle of 34 advocacy teams led by Meals and Water Watch filed a authorized petition asking EPA to overtake CAFOs rules. In 2021, EPA introduced it was not planning to revise the principles it has had in place since 2008.
The EPA by no means formally responded to the 2017 authorized petition. That prompted Meals and Water Watch to sue the company in federal court docket final 12 months. This month, EPA officers modified course and introduced they might now research CAFOs to find out if extra motion needs to be taken.
“For many years EPA’s lax guidelines have allowed for devastating and widespread public well being and environmental impacts on weak communities throughout the nation,” Meals and Water Watch Authorized Director Tarah Heinzen stated in a press release following the EPA’s announcement. “This new research is a crucial alternative for the company to lastly acquire essential details about the true scope of manufacturing facility farm water air pollution, one thing it has lacked for many years”
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