8/29 By MARK POWELL

The Environmental Protection Agency will issue proposed regulations that could require most poultry farms to obtain federal or state pollution control permits. And, the federal agency is considering requiring a “co-permit,” linking farmers with the integrators.
The EPA sent an “outreach document” last month to the National Association of Governors and other government officials detailing their plans.
According to the National Chicken Council, this confirms what agency officials have been saying for months: The agency intends to sweep away several provisions that have sheltered all but the largest poultry operations from the need to obtain permits under the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES).
The document states that EPA is considering:
• Expanding its effluent limitations guidelines to cover land application of manure and poultry litter;
• Specifically including poultry operations that use dry litter;
• Eliminating the 25-year, 24-hour storm provision;
• Requiring permits to include nutrient management plans;
• Lowering the number of animals that trigger the permit requirement to as little as 30,000 broilers at a time; and
• Imposing a legal requirement on CAFO operators to apply for the permit, so that anyone who fails to apply would be in violation.
The document states that EPA is considering setting the threshold level at 750, 500, or 300 animal units. An animal unit equals 100 broilers, so at the lowest level, a farm with 30,000 broilers at a time less than the usual flock for two growout houses--would be covered. Virtually all broiler operations use dry litter and have thus far been exempt from NPDES requirements; the proposed revision would change that.
The proposed changes would be embodied in the regulations for NPDES for CAFOs and the Effluent Limitation Guidelines (ELGs) for Feedlots.
The proposed regulations will be published by Dec. 15 of this year according to George Utting of the EPA. The proposals would be open for public comment for 90 days and take effect two years later.
Utting said the poultry industry has not yet been notified of the proposals officially yet. EPA, he said, will be meeting with national industry groups as well as state agencies next month.
(In fact, several industry representatives contacted for this article said they were aware that the EPA was working on these proposals, but added that they had not yet seen the official document. That document is available on our Web site: www.americanfarm.com. It is a PDF file which requires Adobe Acrobat Reader for viewing.)
EPA wants to revise the regulations for AFOs “to address reports of continued discharge and runoff of manure and nutrients from livestock and poultry farms; update the existing regulations to reflect structural changes in these industries over the last few decades; and improve effectiveness of the CAFO regulations.”
While it is unclear what effect this would have in the Mid-Atlantic region, Maryland, Delaware and Virginia all have various forms of laws that will require nutrient management. However, only Maryland is considering a co-permitting structure for the poultry industry. The co-permits are expected to be challenged in court by the poultry industry and, perhaps, other ag groups.