Committee hears S.124 changes on CAFO permits, vegetated buffers and winter manure exemptions

BURLINGTON, Vt. — Steve Collier, an Agency of Agriculture representative, told a legislative committee that S.124 would clarify which farms must seek federal concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) permits and would make several technical changes to Vermont law governing buffers, winter manure spreading exemptions and certification filings.

Collier said the bill’s core issue is legal: whether federal CAFO permitting applies in specific discharge scenarios, not a change in water-quality standards. “If you have a pipe going into a lake and you don't have a permit to allow it, that's illegal under the Clean Water Act,” Collier said, and added that “you can't discharge without a permit. But once you get a permit, you can't discharge,” except in extreme flood events.

The measure would: (1) allow federal CAFO standards to supersede certain state buffer requirements for farms that must obtain federal permits; (2) eliminate double permit fees so a farm that requires a federal CAFO permit would not also pay the state’s large farm (LFO) fee; (3) clarify that the existing Dec. 15–April 1 winter manure-spreading prohibition continues to allow emergency and seasonal exemptions; and (4) change annual…