Committee weighs S.124 to clarify state CAFO permitting, delays vote until next morning

May 22 — The Ways & Means Committee took an extended briefing on S.124 on Thursday, a bill that would clarify that the Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) is the state authority that determines whether a concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) is discharging and, if so, issues federal Clean Water Act discharge permits. Committee members agreed to delay a final vote until the next morning at 9:15 a.m.

“The Clean Water Act requires certain permits for certain types of activities. One of those activities that requires a permit is for discharges from concentrated animal feeding operations,” said Michael Grady, legislative counsel, during the committee’s briefing on the bill.

The bill grew out of a petition from environmental advocates and an EPA finding that Vermont had not been adequately implementing federal requirements for CAFO discharges, Grady said. EPA has required a corrective-action plan; if the state fails to comply, EPA could remove Vermont’s delegated authority to administer multiple federal discharge programs and instead implement them directly.

S.124 would remove references to an existing memorandum of understanding between the Agency of Agriculture and ANR and replace that MOU with a document the two agencies would prepare “in consultation with U.S. EPA” that lays out roles and responsibilities. The bill would make ANR the entity that determines whether a discharge has occurred and, when…