EPA's Proposed CAFO Rule

CAFO's and NPDES Permits
Almost all modern dairy farms are considered to be Animal Feeding Operations (AFOs). Even those that graze their cows must confine animals at least twice a day in order to milk them. More specifically, an AFO is an animal housing facility that:

• Stables, confines, and feeds or maintains animals for a total of 45 days or more in any 12 month period and
• Does not sustain any crops, vegetation forage growth, or post-harvest residues during the normal growing season. Two or more AFOs under common ownership are considered to be a single AFO if they are adjoining or use a common waste disposal system.
  An AFO is a Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) if:
• The facility has more than 1,000 Animal Units (AUs) or
• The facility has between 301 and 1,000 AUs and wastes are discharged into water either directly (such as through runoff or animal contact), or through a man-made ditch, flushing system, or similar man-made device.

The EPA uses the Animal Unit (AU) to measure the size of AFOs, using a 1,000 pound steer as the standard (one animal unit). To determine the number of AUs on dairy operations, multiply the number of mature dairy cattle (milking or dry) by 1.4. 700 mature dairy cows are equivalent to 1,000 AUs. About 6,600 AFOs had more than 1,000 AUs in 1992.

Regardless of size, any AFO may be designated a CAFO if an on-site inspection by the permitting authority determines it to be a significant contributor of pollution. In making this designation, the following factors are among those considered:

• The size of the AFO and the amount of wastes reaching waters of the United States
• The location of the AFO relative to U.S. waters
• The means of conveyance of wastes into U.S. waters, and
• The slope, vegetation, rainfall, and other factors affecting the likelihood or frequency of discharge.

Under Section 502 of the Clean Water Act, CAFOs are identified as point sources of pollution and required to obtain National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits. AFOs are addressed through various voluntary programs to protect water quality and the environment.

Under the current NPDES CAFO regulations (40 CFR Section 122.23), no AFO, regardless of size, can be determined a CAFO if the facility discharges only in the event of a 25 year 24-hour storm event that causes correctly operated waste retention structures to overflow. This is interpreted to mean that an AFO with 1,000+ AUs that does not have the potential to discharge (except for the aforementioned storm event) is not required to have a NPDES permit.

Under the same regulations, discharge from an NPDES-permitted CAFO would not be a violation of the CWA if the discharge results from an extreme rainfall event.
States may have their own requirements which are at least as stringent as federal standards, and possibly more so. Farms located in selected geographical areas (Chesapeake Bay, Great Lakes, etc.) may be subject to additional requirements. For these reasons, facilities that don't require permits under the above situations may still be permitted under state authority.

Details on Proposed Rule
On December 15, 2000, EPA signed its long-awaited Proposed "CAFO Rule." This Proposed Rule combines revisions to both the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit regulations for Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) and the coinciding effluent limitation guidelines (ELGs) for feedlots. The Rule will be formally published in the Federal Register in early January and will be open for public comment for 120 days after publication. The Final Rule will be released on December 15, 2002.

The EPA's goals driving the permit revisions are to make the current CAFO regulations more simple and understandable, more enforceable, and more protective of the environment. The following provisions are included in the Proposed Rule:

• Changes to the CAFO definition, including:
• The presentation of two options for defining what size of Animal Feeding Operations (AFOs) will be defined CAFOs.
• Elimination of the 25 year/24 hour exemption. The current exemption does not require larger CAFOs to obtain NPDES permits if they do not discharge except for the aforementioned storm event.
• Inclusion of immature swine and dairy operations (heifer raisers) as CAFOs where applicable.
• The addition of elements to address land application of manure in CAFO permits and ELG provisions. Currently, land application of manure is not addressed under these regulations. The elements include:
• Requiring CAFOs to implement nutrient management plans as part of their NPDES permits.
• Provisions to address third party recipients of CAFO manure.
• Land application rates based on Phosphorus limits, rather than Nitrogen.
• Requiring setbacks that would prohibit the application of manure within 100 feet of surface waters.
• Improving public availability to permit information in a variety of ways.
• Requiring dairy CAFOs to perform an assessment to determine whether a hydrologic link exists from ground water beneath the feedlot and manure storage area to surface waters.

Additional dairy farms will likely be defined as CAFOs under the Proposed Rule, and more strict regulations will apply to all farms currently defined as CAFOs. NMPF will continue to work through a coalition of livestock interests to communicate the potential significant impacts of this Proposed Rule on livestock producers throughout the country.

The Proposed Rule, as well as a review of the current EPA CAFO regulations is available online at: www.epa.gov/npdes/afo/ NMPF will be working with its Environmental Issues Committee to prepare formal comments to this rule and will continue to provide feedback to EPA during this development process.

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