RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—The Environmental Protection Agency finalized a rule that will allow concentrated animal-feeding operations, also known as CAFOs or factory farms, to sidestep pollution permits as long as they promise to keep their huge concentrations of liquid manure out of local waterways. The rule will go into affect early next year.
THE DETAILS: Under the Clean Water Act, discharging pollutants into water requires a permit. Environmentalists, industry, and the U.S. government have long fought over the right way to deal with waste from gigantic factory farms, and have even gone to court over the issue. In 2005, a court decision directed the EPA to exempt some CAFOs from needing a permit for discharging pollutants. This final rule goes even further, though, eliminating the requirement for any of the factory farms to go through the permit process, as long as they say they won’t allow pollution discharges. That essentially lets CAFO operators decide for themselves whether they are polluters. “This ‘regulation’ in fact allows these industrial meat ‘farms’ to avoid the Clean Water Act altogether by certifying that they’ve taken voluntary action to avoid discharging,” says Eric Schaeffer, former EPA lawyer and director of the Environmental Integrity Project in Washington, DC. “These certifications cannot be reviewed by federal or state authorities under the final rule, which puts the foxes in charge of their gigantic henhouses.”
Since the rule is a done deal, it’s likely to remain in effect for the foreseeable future, despite the upcoming administration change. “Unfortunately, once a rule or regulation is published in the federal register, a new administration cannot simply cancel it,” says Jeffrey Odefey, staff attorney at Waterkeeper Alliance, a nonprofit clean-water-advocacy group in Irvington, NY. Odefey explains, “The rule will have to go into effect, unless Congress steps in to repeal it. There is a process for doing this called the Congressional Review Act, but I think it’s highly unlikely.”
The EPA did not return messages left by Rodale News.
WHAT IT MEANS: This Bush administration decision is the latest in a string of deregulations that make environmentalists want to tear their hair out. In mid-October, the administration pushed forward a rule that would allow mountaintop removal mining operations to legally dump harmful waste in valleys and cover seasonal streams. In these final days of the Bush presidency, Schaeffer and other environmentalists expect more breaks for polluters.
But regulations notwithstanding, it’s impossible to keep tens of thousands—even millions—of farm animals in one industrial farm location and effectively manage the waste. The huge manure lagoons that are produced can overflow when big storms hit. The gases that spew from these farms also pose health risks to workers and to people who live in the area.
Here’s how you can encourage healthier, more environmentally sound methods of meat production:
• Take your business elsewhere. “The market is one of the most powerful tools that we all have,” says Odefey. “By refusing to purchase meat or dairy products from CAFOs, or the vertically integrated companies that market these products, we support a sustainable alternative and keep local farmers on the land.”
• Talk to your grocer. Tell the people who run your grocery store that you want meat from decentralized, sustainable farms. Then spread the word to friends and family so they can do the same.
• Favor family farms. Visit Local Harvest to find a farm in your area. If you can’t find one nearby, you can order more sustainable meat from a farm’s website. And once you visit a farm, make sure it’s doing things right…
• Try the sniff test. If a farm is managing its manure the right way, you shouldn’t smell it.
• Listen to your eyes. In addition to a nasty nasal invasion, a farm with a manure lagoon can cause your eyes to burn and tear up. The gases are unpleasant, and our bodies react to that.
• Complain to this trio: President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team, your regional EPA office, and your congressional representatives.
Q&A with Waterkeeper Alliance attorney Jeff Odefey.
Pollution on the Honor System
Jeffrey Odefey, staff attorney and director of the Pure Farms Pure Waters campaign for the clean-water-advocacy group Waterkeeper Alliance, speaks with Rodale.com’s Leah Zerbe about the EPA’s new ruling on factory farms and pollution discharge.
Rodale News: How will this rule affect human and environmental health?
Jeffrey Odefey: Unfortunately, it’s hard to see a positive effect on human or environmental health. Essentially, the result of the rule will be that fewer and fewer CAFOs will fall under a state’s Clean Water Act permitting program. These programs are the most important tool, intended to protect our communities and watersheds from harmful pollution. Without meaningful restrictions on CAFO operations, any government oversight, or a mechanism for individual accountability, there will be fewer means to prevent discharges from CAFOs.
RN: Why was this rule pushed through? Will it benefit Americans in any way?
JO: The rule is a response to a court decision from nearly 4 years ago. While the court’s ruling required some changes to the CAFO rule that EPA released in 2003, this new rule goes beyond the court’s requirements to undo much of the beneficial effects of the old rule. For instance, the new rule allows CAFOs to certify, on their word, that they will not discharge, and thus do not need permits. Instead, EPA could have clearly defined that CAFOs of certain types, in certain locations, are required to obtain permits. Essentially, the new rule benefits the large CAFO operators by allowing them to escape scrutiny and compliance with environmental protection laws. It does not benefit sustainable farmers, who must continue to compete with factory farms that push the costs of treating their waste onto the general public. This unfair regulatory subsidy undermines the health and quality of life for many rural Americans.
RN: What can people do in protest of this rule? Eat local, eat organic? Any other suggestions?
JO: Certainly the market is one of the most powerful tools that we all have. By refusing to purchase meat or dairy products from CAFOs, or the vertically integrated companies that market these products, we support a sustainable alternative and keep local farmers on the land. As fewer CAFOs seek permits from state agencies, enforcement becomes the best tool for ensuring that local waterways are not contaminated by CAFO waste. Citizens play an increasingly important role in this dynamic—reports of discharges or improper waste-management practices can be a vital resource for state officials.
RN: To your knowledge, if an industrial farm says it won't discharge, will it be monitored in any way?
JO: The short and unfortunate answer is “no.” There will be no reason or method, outside of an enforcement investigation, for a state agency to monitor the operations of each CAFO.
RN: When there’s some sort of big storm, how does it affect manure lagoons—even those are set up to not discharge?
JO: This is a critical question. Most so-called “no discharge” operations and lagoons are designed to standards that are, in turn, intended to prevent runoff during storms up to a certain size. This “design storm” is often the 25-year, 24-hour storm, meaning the amount of rain likely to occur in a storm so severe that it’s only likely to occur once every 25 years. The trouble is, storms this size occur far more frequently, and are becoming more severe as our climate changes. A CAFO that is designed to withstand a 25-year or 100-year storm will, by design, discharge in larger storms. This is one of the key failures of EPA’s new rule—it simply does not incorporate a true “no discharge” standard for CAFO design and operation.