EPA's CAFO Rule

Comments to Proposed CAFO Rule - August 29, 2006
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Summary of 2005 Court Decision on CAFO's

Visit the EPA website [1] discussing the court decision.

EPA's CAFO Rule Homepage [2]

Comments on Revised Compliance Dates - January 20, 2006

View the comments [2] NMPF prepared on the compliance dates for CAFOs.

Effluent Limitation Guidelines

NPDES permits are generally written to implement national minimum standards, referred to as effluent limitation guidelines [3]. EPA’s Office of Science and Technology [4] establishes these guidelines. The effluent limitation guidelines (ELGs) for CAFOs allow no discharges to Waters of the U.S. except when chronic or catastrophic rainfall events cause an overflow from a facility designed, constructed, and operated to hold process generated wastewater plus runoff from a 25-year, 24-hour storm event. All NPDES permits for CAFOs with over 1,000 AUs must contain an equivalent or more stringent effluent limitation.

Listing of Permitting Authorities [4]

List of CAFO Permitting Authority Contacts in your state.

Is My Dairy Farm a CAFO?

Almost all modern dairy farms are considered to be Animal Feeding Operations (AFOs). Even those that graze their cows must confine animals at least twice a day in order to milk them. More specifically, an AFO is an animal housing facility that:

Stables, confines, and feeds or maintains animals for a total of 45 days or more in any 12 month period; and
Does not sustain any crops, vegetation forage growth, or post-harvest residues during the normal growing season. Two or more AFOs under common ownership are considered to be a single AFO if they are adjoining or use a common waste disposal system.

AFOs are considered to be nonpoint sources of pollution and are addressed through various voluntary programs to protect water quality and the environment. Larger AFOs and those with potentially significant environmental impacts may be considered to be Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs). The Clean Water Act considers CAFOs to be point sources of pollution and subjects them to more stringent water quality requirements.