President Joe Biden’s administration on Tuesday rejected calls to tighten regulations on large farms that release manure and other pollutants into waterways, instead promising more research.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it had rejected two petitions from environmental and community groups seeking changes to rules dealing with the nation’s largest livestock industry, which raises thousands of pigs, chickens and cows.
“A comprehensive assessment is essential before determining whether regulatory change is necessary or appropriate,” the agency said in a statement.
In a letter to advocacy groups, Assistant Secretary Radhika Fox said the EPA will carefully review programs to oversee farms and existing contamination limits. The agency will set up a committee with representatives from agriculture, environmental groups, researchers and others to develop recommendations, he said.
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“We want to hear all voices and benefit from the latest research findings. EPA believes these efforts represent real progress and lasting solutions to protect our nation’s waters. I’m sure it will connect,” Fox said.
Food & Water Watch, one of dozens of groups that petitioned the EPA in 2017 to crack down on livestock contamination, said the response continues half a century of poor oversight. The agency has not revised its farm regulations since 2008.
Pigs feed from a manger at the Las Vegas Livestock Pig Farm on April 2, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)
“Factory farms pose a significant and growing threat to clean water, largely because the EPA’s weak rules keep most of the industry from being completely because it is not regulated by “The lack of urgency shown in EPA’s decision doubles the responsibility of EPA’s failure to protect our waters and those who depend on it.”
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Beef, chicken and pork have become more affordable staples in the U.S. diet thanks to industry consolidation and the rise of megafarms. But federal and state environmental agencies often lack basic information, such as where they are located, how many animals they keep, and how to treat manure.
Waste and fertilizer runoff from operations, and runoff from fertilized farmland, fouls streams, rivers and lakes. It is a major cause of algal blooms that pose a hazard to many waterways and dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Erie.
Under the Clean Water Act, the EPA regulates large farms known as Concentrated Animal Feed Operations (CAFOs) that are subject to federal pollution permits. Federal law requires that only those known to discharge waste obtain permits, but some states require others to obtain permits as well.
According to the EPA’s latest tally, completed in May, 6,406 of the country’s 21,539 CAFOs have received permits.
The agency’s regulations impose requirements on barns and farms where animals are kept, as well as manure storage facilities and land on which manure and wastewater are applied.
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While the rule prohibits discharges into waterways, it makes exceptions for discharges due to heavy rainfall and storm-related runoff from agricultural fields where the waste has been dispensed according to a plan that controls factors such as timing and quantity.
Fox said in the letter that the EPA will investigate the extent of water pollution caused by CAFO and whether the problem is national or localized. It also considers new technologies and practices that may bring about improvements.
The advisory board will meet frequently over the next 12 to 18 months, Fox said. After receiving the group’s recommendations and completing its own investigation, EPA will determine whether a new rule is needed or whether better implementation and enforcement of existing rules would be more effective.
