Legislative staff outline S.124 changes shifting CAFO permitting authority to ANR, set implementation deadlines

Legislative counsel and lawmakers on the House Agriculture, Food Resiliency, & Forestry Committee and the House Environment Committee on Thursday reviewed S.124, a Senate "miscellaneous agriculture" bill that would change which state agency leads permitting and enforcement for concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) to meet U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) expectations.

Committee members heard that the federal Clean Water Act and EPA rules require states that run NPDES permit programs to implement CAFO permitting. "The Federal Clean Water Act requires states, that are delegated to implement, the NPDES permit program to to implement those programs," said Mike, legislative counsel, summarizing the federal context and EPA's prior CAFO rulemaking.

The bill responds to an EPA finding that the state was not adequately implementing the CAFO permitting program. According to legislative counsel, EPA told the Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) it needed corrective action after advocates petitioned EPA alleging inadequate enforcement. "EPA agreed with them. EPA agreed that ANR was not properly enforcing or requiring discharge permits or discharges at concentrated animal feeding operation," Mike said, and EPA reviewed draft legislation ANR supplied that is largely before the committees now as S.124.

Why shift authority: under current practice the Agency of Agriculture, Food Resiliency, & Forestry (the agency of agriculture) has been issuing written…