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The Columbus Dispatch
www.dispatch.com
Big
farms to follow federal rules
State
EPA agrees to require permits for known polluters
Michael
Hawthorne and Paul Souhrada
Tuesday,
October 31, 2000
Under
pressure from federal officials and environmentalists, the Ohio Environmental
Protection Agency will start regulating Buckeye Egg Farm and large-scale
feedlots as it does factories and sewage-treatment plants.
Federal
permits will be required for farms with more than 1,000 beef cattle, 2,500 hogs
or 100,000 chickens that the state EPA has determined as being polluters of
rivers and streams. The permits require more frequent inspecting and monitoring
of the methods used to store and dispose of animal manure.
Similar
permits will be required for smaller livestock farms that have failed to
prevent manure spills by 2002.
State
EPA Director Christopher Jones had argued for more than a year that existing
state permits would do the job. But he decided to beef up the state's environmental
control of megafarms after the U.S. EPA threatened to withhold $3.5 million to
enforce the Clean Water Act.
"They
made it very clear that they see these permits as a necessary component of our
program,'' Jones said yesterday.
Buckeye
Egg Farm operations in Licking, Hardin and Wyandot counties will be the first
required to obtain the permits, Jones said. The EPA plans to conduct an
inventory of all 125 megafarms in the state to determine whether others will be
required to get them.
Environmentalists
hailed the decision, saying the federal permits will give residents more
information and provide tougher controls on farms that spill manure into rivers
or groundwater.
"We're
finally getting recognition that these types of farms can and do discharge
pollution into our streams,'' said Jeff Skelding, water-policy coordinator for
the Ohio Environmental Council. "The changes they're talking about should
shed more light on these operations.''
However,
it's unclear whether the state EPA will be the agency issuing and enforcing the
new permits. The Ohio Farm Bureau Federation is pushing a Senate-approved bill
pending in the House that would transfer regulation of megafarms to the Ohio
Department of Agriculture.
Sen.
Larry Mumper, chief sponsor of the bill, called the new permits
"blackmail.''
"The
federal government assumes too many rights that do not appear in the
Constitution,'' the Marion Republican said. "I don't think they know in
Washington what's best for Ohio.''
Still,
there's no question that the state will comply if required. Mumper's bill,
scheduled for a House vote when lawmakers return from their campaign recess,
includes language allowing the Agriculture Department to conform with any
changes in federal policy.
Although
it appears the state EPA is at odds with another agency in Gov. Bob Taft's
administration, Jones said the goal of tougher oversight remains the same. He
also took issue with statements made by backers of the Mumper bill that the
state EPA is ill-prepared to deal with the livestock industry.
"We
believe the cumulative impact of these farms can have an impact on water
quality,'' Jones said. "We may not be experts in animal agriculture, but
we are experts in waste management and we know about its impact on the
environment and public health.''
While
backers of the bill say the Ohio EPA hasn't done a good job regulating
megafarms, environmentalists contend that the Agriculture Department, which
promotes the farm industry, might be too sympathetic to megafarms.
"Requiring
these permits means the (Mumper) bill is even more unnecessary than it was
before,'' said Marc Conte, lobbyist for the Ohio chapter of the Sierra Club,
one of four environmental groups that have petitioned the U.S. EPA to revoke
the Ohio EPA's authority to enforce federal environmental laws.
Requiring
federal permits for the megafarms represents a significant shift in the
nation's anti-pollution laws as officials grapple with dramatic changes in the
livestock industry.
The
permits, which regulate the amount of pollution that can be legally discharged,
traditionally have been reserved for direct sources, such as factory drainpipes
or sanitary sewers.
As
livestock farms have consolidated into fewer and much larger operations --
Buckeye Egg had nearly 6 million chickens in Licking County before a tornado
hit Sept. 20 -- federal officials have pushed to apply the same regulations to
agriculture.
Mumper
contends that the new permits would apply only to farms that intend to
discharge waste directly into nearby waterways. Accidental spills would still
be dealt with by the Ohio EPA, Ohio Department of Natural Resources or state or
local health authorities, he said.
Keith
Stimpert, vice president of government affairs for the Ohio Farm Bureau
Federation, said he doesn't know what to make of the changes.
"In
some of those areas, they probably already have the authority to do what
they're saying,'' he said. "A lot of it is going to depend on the
definitions.''
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