Environmentalists Petition EPA To Review CAFO Discharge Regulations

摘要

Environmentalists are petitioning EPA to review and eventually strengthen years-old rules governing discharges from concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) under the Clean Water Act (CWA), noting in a petition that the agency has excluded CAFOs from recent legally-mandated reviews in prior years. The environmental groups, led by Food & Water Watch (FWW), filed a March 8 petition asking the agency to review and "remove loopholes" in CAFO regulation. The effort appears aimed in part at pushing EPA to review its current CAFO rules, which were promulgated in 2008, when it launches its next biennial review of its effluent guidelines programs. The agency is still completing its 2016 review, required by section 304 (m) of the CWA.