Last week, U.S. EPA denied two petitions seeking stronger rules governing concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) filed by national and local environmental groups. The petitions sought changes to federal rules that would have required more CAFOs to obtain Clean Water Act permits. CAFOs are mostly unregulated because weak rules often allow them to fall under the agriculture stormwater exemption of the Clean Water Act.

The Clean Water Act specifically lists CAFOs as “point sources” that require discharge permits, but court decisions have held that only CAFOs with actual discharges require Clean Water Act permits. Most CAFOs claim not to discharge at all, so they do not get permits. That is true in Iowa where a very small portion of CAFOs have permits, but other states have taken varying approaches to permitting that gives them more oversight of facilities.

Rather than adopt the changes, EPA proposed to create a subcommittee of the Farm, Ranch, and Rural Communities Federal Advisory Committee. The full committee provides advice to EPA on a range of issues, and the new subcommittee will focus on “the impact of CAFOs on water quality.” The EPA denials argued the subcommittee process would be more effective than adopting regulations that would surely be challenged.  

The denial of the petitions means that EPA will not take further action to regulate CAFOs in the short term, despite the petitions explaining in detail why properly managing manure – and keeping it out of the water – is critical to protect water quality. In response to the petition denials, Food & Water Watch and Earthjustice noted the urgency of addressing this type of pollution and the legal authority under the Clean Water Act to do so. Until government agencies and lawmakers have the political nerve to take action, Iowans and our downstream neighbors will continue to suffer from pervasive manure pollution in our waterways.