Producers to see more of an EPA prescence

By Julie Pence, Ag Weekly correspondent
Friday, May 23, 2008 4:05 PM CDT

TWIN FALLS, Idaho - Farmers and ranchers shake in their boots, or shake their fists, at the mere mention of federal government enforcers coming onto their land.

Unfortunately, that’s just what producers of the larger operations are facing. An EPA policy in place since 2002 that addresses wet weather concerns dictates that its regulators will do more on-the-ground inspections than in the past. For the agency’s Region 10, which includes Idaho, Oregon and Washington, that means doing between 10 and 25 on-the-ground inspections for potential discharges in water bodies of the United States from large dairy farms and livestock feeding operations, said Nick Peak, Region 10 CAFO lead officer. Known as CAFOs (confined animal feeding operations), the federal definition includes operations with as few as 200 animals.

But even so, that doesn’t mean producers should be afraid, Peak said.

“I think they will know if they are running a clean operation. If there are no surface discharges, they would know there isn’t a problem,” Peak said. “I don’t think there should be some overriding fear out there.”

The new operative actually began implementation in Idaho in 2006. While in the past, EPA had relied on the Idaho Department of Agriculture to do the on-the-ground inspections and enforcement of the Clean Water Act, that year EPA did hands-on inspections of 32 beef operations in the state. But EPA officials only cited two operations and fined one of those, said Marv Patten, who oversees waste management on beef and dairy operations for ISDA.

Prior to 2006, EPA would do a flyover with the ISDA once a year during a month such as March or April when discharges were most likely to take place.

In 2008, the agency targeted Oregon operations for its on-the-ground inspections, said Jim Werntz, director of EPA’s operations in Boise.

Peak explained the new process begins with EPA first doing a flyover, as it has in the past, but now inspectors are scrutinizing operations for certain criteria that might make those facilities rise to the top of the list for follow-up on the ground. For example, if a lagoon on an operation were overly full, then the owner gets to do a tour with the EPA. But also, if an operation has a history of problems or if the neighbors have been complaining about discharges or the potential for discharges, then the facility rises to the top of the list, Peak said. And there are other things that would put a CAFO on EPA’s follow-up inventory.

There is no hard-and-fast rule about the number of properties that get the closer scrutiny, Peak said.

“Just historically, when we do flyovers, we select a subset and typically that turns out to be between 10 and 25,” he said.

Nor does the EPA have a requirement to meet a citation quota, he said.

“We absolutely do not have any quotas for penalties,” he said. “If we go out and do 25 inspections and have no citations, that is good for us and good for them. It looks good for the industry, and it looks good for us because it means everyone is in compliance.”

Werntz agreed, saying, “We have no interest in playing a ‘gotcha’ game.”

Do neighbor complaints about odors force a facility to the top of the closer-inspection list?

No, Peak said.

“We just don’t get into that, because that is not regulated right now,” Peak said. “That comes under the Clean Air Act. (EPA) will be gathering data on that for the next two years. Then they have to go through the process of studying that. It’s a long ways down the road before any Clean Air Act stuff comes through.”

If an operator is nervous, an NPDES (National Pollution Discharge Elimination System) permit would be helpful, especially if he has a facility that is near a river or if he fields lots of neighbor complaints, Peak pointed out.

“It’s up to the operator to get a permit,” he said. “We would encourage them to get a permit. Yes, there is record keeping with that, but if they are under a lot of scrutiny and or near a river, they should have one.”

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