APB agenda 112205 - Laserfiche WebLink

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WATER QUALITY LAWS A.ND REGULATIONS Mie federal. Clean Water. Act is the primary piece of legislation regulating large livestock farms. It specifies livestock farms of certain sizes and meetin certain. conditions as c:entrated animal feeding operations" (CAFOs). The act defines CAFOs as "point sources" of wa- ter pollution and requires them to operate under a state or federal discharge permit. "The 250 cows in my herd couldn't possible cause enough pollution to concern anyone. I have new storage equipment and plenty of acreage for spreading the manure." "You. rn.ay be doing a good job but what about the poultry farrn down the road? He.'s got thou - sands of birds in his .flock arid Chicken manure is really raunchy." In New York State., the General Perra t CAP- 99 -01. for CAFOs became available in July 1.999. The regulation requires all poultry and livestock farms with animals whose combined body - weight equals more than 300,000 pounds to operate under a permit. (Dote: The rules will change in 2004.) Say what? In everyday language, that's about 200 milk corers, 750 finishing pigs, 15,000 egg layers or 37,500 broilers. Don't forget horses, cattle, veal calves, heifers, and ducks. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has a headcount equiv- alent for tl:iese anima is as well. Any farm meet- ing these rninim.ums n:Iust register with the state's Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and operate under a CAFO permit. 23 .f The permit spells out several obligations. Cov- ered farms must: maintain an ongoing professional relation - sliip with a state - certified agricultural envi- rorimental planner develop a comprehensive nutrient manage - irien.t plan that meets specific standards 4 maintain records demonstrating the opera- tions are within the plan. The plan must also address treatment of wastewater and contaminated runoff from the farmstead, erosion control of cropland., and ap- plication of manure and fertilizer to cropland. Compliance inspections of CAFOs occur on an ongoing basis. Water quality is also a state concern, The New York State Environmental Conservation Law prohibits discharge into lakes, rivers, streams, and the like that degrades or damages natural resources. Conservation officers are re- quired to investigate reports of slick, foa.i.i:iin.g, or discolored lakes, rivers, and streams, fish. and wildlife kills; and other obvious signs of .pollution. DEC has several enforcement options -for dealing with illegal polluters. "It's really dark tonight. No one will ever know I dumped this stuff out here." "Oh., rnan.. SOTneone must hac1e emptied barrels of Chernical poop into the lake. See the globutes floating on the surface? We Aced DEC to Cheek it out."