New Feedlot Proposal From EPA
No Big Deal To Texas Feeders

By David Bowser

Proposed environmental regulations should not mean changes at feedyards in Texas, Oklahoma or New Mexico, say spokesmen for the Texas Cattle Feeders Association.

"Feedyards in our area are already under stringent environmental regulations," explains Burt Rutherford with the cattle feeders association. "At this point, it's our understanding that everything that is going to be proposed, we already comply with."

A draft Environmental Protection Agency initiative announced last week would for the first time require about 6000 large hog, cattle and poultry operations to obtain federal permits and meet national water pollution guidelines. State rules now cover only about a quarter of them nationwide.

Some producers argue that such controls would lead to higher retail food prices, while environmental activists claim federal regulations are long overdue as a first step to stem growing pollution problems from agricultural runoff.

TCFA officials say cattle feeding operations in their membership area are already operating under state and federal regulations that meet or exceed the new proposed rules and should not be affected by the new program.

Cattle feedlots, large commercial hog farms and poultry farms are regulated by the states with pollution standards and permits that vary from one region to another. Following an announcement by President Clinton last month that protecting lakes and streams from urban and agricultural pollution would be one of his top environmental priorities, EPA unveiled their strategy last week as the first installment of a broader plan to protect the nation's waterways.

"This is the first piece of the president's action plan," said EPA spokeswoman Loretta Ucelli.

The plan, once formalized under a series of regulations to be announced later this year, would reflect a significantly broadening of the federal government's oversight of commercial livestock and poultry operations across the country.

"TCFA member feedyards have had EPA and state regulation for years that contain the proposals that EPA has announced," said Ross Wilson, the association's government affairs specialist.

The new EPA initiative has been expected within the agriculture industry. Some livestock groups have been critical of increased federal controls, arguing they would put U.S. farmers at a disadvantage against farms in Mexico and other countries, and lead to higher consumer prices for chicken, beef, pork and dairy products.

Still other producers, however, say federal standards may be an improvement over what some consider a hodgepodge of state regulations, with farmers and ranchers in some states required to meet more stringent pollution controls than competitors in a neighboring state.

Wilson says that the proposals are still in draft strategy form.

"This document, even though they rolled it out in this big announcement, still has 'draft' stamped on it," Wilson said. "I think they're saying that because they're going to continue the talks with stakeholders, the producers and departmental groups, to obtain additional input."

The EPA strategy, according to officials, call for regulating large poultry and other livestock farms, or feedlots, to curb pollution into nearby waterways much as factories currently are regulated under the Clean Water Act. The controls would not apply to cattle ranches, but only to feedlots and other "confined animal feeding operations," or CAFO’s.

It shouldn't affect a rancher running cattle on the range, Wilson says.

"They're going to focus their initial efforts on priority watersheds to the year 2002 and the rest of the nation through the year 2005," he continues. "There's a number of different components in this proposal, which first and foremost is to get everybody permitted. All of our people are."

Following their initial step, EPA will then focus on possible new permit requirements.

"That's where we're obviously going to be working with EPA and make sure those are practical," Wilson says.

Beef or dairy cattle, hog and poultry farms would be subject to regular inspections, require pollution permits and be required to develop plans limiting release of chemicals, manure and other wastes into waterways, EPA officials say.

Such pollution has been blamed for excessive nutrients and toxic chemicals getting into lakes and streams, leading to a growing number of fish kills in waterways in many parts of the country.

Waste from poultry farms on Maryland's Eastern Shore was blamed last summer for an outbreak of the microbe pfiesteria that killed thousands of fish and forced state officials to close infected rivers along the Chesapeake Bay to fishing.

The flow of large amounts of nutrients from livestock into rivers and streams also has caused oxygen-choking algae blooms in waterways, creating in some cases "dead zones" where fish and other aquatic life no longer can survive, the Associated Press reports.

EPA officials say the permits would be required for farms with more than 1000 cattle, 2500 swine or 100,000 laying hens. Permits also could be required for smaller farms that were found to pose an environmental hazard to specific environmentally sensitive waterways, says EPA.

"Those are the same thresholds that have been in place for years," Wilson says. "That's nothing new."

EPA’s definitions start with an animal feeding operation, then further define a concentrated animal feeding operation.

"If there's no growing vegetation in the area of the pens," Wilson says, "it's a confined feeding situation. What kicks you into that concentrated category that requires the permit is the number threshold."

The plan to cut animal waste pollution in waterways is not intended to punish livestock producers or cause economic damage to agriculture, Environmental Protection Agency chief Carol Browner claimed last week at a meeting of pork producers.

Browner said EPA intends to work closely with livestock producers to determine how best to reduce manure pollution so that no single segment is put at a competitive disadvantage.

"Can you tell us what you need us to do?" she asked the National Pork Industry Forum in Reno, Nev., Friday. "What are the resources we need to provide you with?"

EPA, working with the Agriculture Department and producers, will identify ways to provide financial and technical assistance to implement the regulations, Browner added. She promised the government will listen to producers' concerns and consider regional differences before issuing a final version.