Sessions to educate Illinois producers on new waste rules

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  Farm and environmental groups in Illinois are debating whether regulations intended to better track large commercial livestock o

  From WATTAgNet:
  Farm and environmental groups in Illinois are debating whether regulations intended to better track large commercial livestock operations as a way to prevent water pollution from waste runoff are too much or too little.
  The Illinois Pork Producers Association and the Illinois Farm Bureau have scheduled information sessions throughout the state to explain the new rules to producers. Topics to be discussed include the legal definition of a concentrated animal feed operation (CAFO), annual record-keeping, development of a formal waste management plan, and whether operations are required to obtain a waste discharge permit.
  The rules, which took effect in August, cover hog, cattle, poultry, sheep and other livestock operations.
  “Most larger operations have already adopted a number of these practices,” said Jim Kaitschuk, executive director of the Illinois Pork Producers Association. “We’re encouraging all farmers who have livestock to go out and do an evaluation of their waste management plan.”
  For many years, environmental groups have argued that livestock waste runoff is among the major sources of water pollution in Illinois. The groups say outdated state rules allow pollution to mostly go undetected and unpunished by failing to provide an accurate count of major livestock operations in the state, but that the new rules are an improvement.

Proposed Sanderson Farms plant finds opponents in North Carolina

As Sanderson Farms considers building a chicken processing plant in Cumberland County, North Carolina, some area residents are voicing opposition to the project. About 350 residents with questions and concerns about the proposed plant came to a meeting held August 7 at a church in Fayetteville, the Cumberland County seat.
Sanderson Farms is looking at constructing the facility in Cumberland County’s vacant Cedar Creek Business Center, a 485-acre industrial site east of Interstate 95. If realized, the proposed Sanderson Farms plant would employ as many as 1,000 people and would generate an estimated $1 million in property tax revenue annually.
But organizers of the meeting are less concerned about its positive economic impact and instead focusing on possible environmental impacts. The group has been circulating petitions, had yard signs printed and has even started a website dedicated to persuading residents to oppose the proposed Sanderson Farms plant.
Of chief concern to the people attending the meeting, according to the Fayetteville Observer, is water quality. Other potential issues, such as odors, dust, feathers and truck traffic were also mentioned.
Representatives of three environmental groups, along with a professor from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, spoke to those attending the meeting.
Absent from the meeting were elected officials representing the Fayetteville and Cumberland County governments. However, one state official, Rep. Rick Glazier, D-Fayetteville, said a new plant in Cumberland County would create a “significant environmental hazard to the Cape Fear River basin.”

Poultry grower Lois Alt prevails in lawsuit against EPA

A federal judge ruled on October 23 that the Environmental Protection Agency had no legal right to force West Virginia poultry grower Lois Alt to obtain water pollution permits for litter, dust and feathers that rain may wash away and that runoff is not in violation of the Clean Water Act. U.S. District Judge John Preston Bailey said the runoff is not a fixed pollution source and is exempt from the requirement to obtain permits.
The dispute between Alt and the EPA dates back to 2011, when the agency threatened to fine Alt if she didn't seek a permit for her farm, which it called a "concentrated animal feeding operation." The order said Alt would have to pay $37,500 in fines each time stormwater came into contact with dust, feathers or small amounts of manure outside of her poultry houses.
Alt responded by filing her own legal challenge to the agency in June 2012. The EPA eventually withdrew the fines, but with the help of the American Farm Bureau Federation and the West Virginia Farm Bureau, Alt kept her case alive.
The ruling has drawn applause from poultry and agriculture groups.
"We applaud Judge Bailey's decision to issue a summary judgment. We are pleased that Ms. Alt's legal uncertainty has been resolved in her favor by a common sense ruling that is consistent with a clear understanding of the Clean Water Act," said John Starkey, president of the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association.

Water concerns near Pilgrim's poultry processing plant force temporary shutdown

Concerns about the water supply in the area of Pilgrim's poultry processing plant in Guntersville, Ala., on the morning of Friday, October 11 forced the plant to shut down its first and second shift operations while crews worked to fix the issue.
Jack Swann, manager of the Guntersville Water Board, said Pilgrim's reported the issue at approximately 6 a.m. when workers noticed discoloration in the water system, which occurred after workers completed maintenance on some valves in another part of the city on October 10.
"It stirred up some debris that came off the metal pipeline," Swann said. "It looks like the iron caused some of the color to get in the water."
He said the water was tested and is safe to drink, and officials "just about have (the system) completely flushed out."

Perdue Farms, Hudsons can’t recover legal fees, judge rules

Perdue Farms and poultry grower Hudson Farm will not be able to recoup the cost of fees they incurred during a legal battle with environmental group Waterkeeper Alliance, a federal judge ruled on August 27. The ruling follows the court's decision in December 2012 that the Hudson family, which was growing chickens for Perdue, did not pollute a nearby waterway as the environmental organization alleged in its lawsuit.
"On behalf of the Hudsons and family farms across Maryland and the country, we are disappointed that the judge chose not to hold the Waterkeepers accountable by making them responsible for the financial costs of their misguided lawsuit," said Perdue spokeswoman Julie DeYoung. "The effort to recover legal fees was never about Perdue. It was about trying to ensure that another farm family doesn't have to go through the unfair situation the Hudson family faced, and that the Waterkeepers and other organizations like them would think twice about pursuing legal action that uses hard-working American families as pawns in their attack on modern agriculture."
The lawsuit began on March 1, 2010, when the Waterkeeper Alliance claimed a photograph the group took showed a pile of what it believed was chicken litter seeping into a nearby waterway that would potentially pollute the Pocomoke River and the Chesapeake Bay system. The pile in question was actually a pile of biosolids to be used to fertilize crops and the court ruled in favor of the Hudsons and Perdue Farms.
Perdue and the Hudsons then filed a suit to recover up to $2.5 million in legal costs in the case it deemed frivolous. Filings in U.S. District Court said the company paid attorneys for more than 10,000 hours of work. The attorney the Hudsons said the family accumulated about $500,000 in fees. 

EPA, Chesapeake Bay Foundation reach agreement on poultry, livestock pollution discharges

The Environmetal Protection Agency and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation have recently announced the details of a new agreement to declare a new national concentrated animal feeding operation rule that addresses pollution discharges from livestock and poultry farms. The agreement, arises from the 2010 settlement of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation's lawsuit. 
The U.S. poultry industry released the following statement in response to the agreement:
"The National Chicken Council, National Turkey Federation and U.S. Poultry & Egg Association support EPA's collection of more data to verify the efficacy of the current regulatory program rather than developing further regulations that are not needed. This will help to assure that no false assumptions are made about the potential contribution of livestock and production to pollution in the Chesapeake Bay.
"The poultry industry recognizes that there are indeed challenges within this and other watersheds to reduce the level of nutrients in surface waters. All of animal agriculture has been working together to minimize its impact on these watersheds. By EPA's own admission, the agricultural industry has made tremendous progress in reducing potential runoff and improving the water quality of the Chesapeake Bay and other watersheds throughout the country.
"A recent study by the University of Delaware not only found that the amount of nutrient runoff in the Chesapeake Bay supposedly caused by chicken litter is much less than EPA's outdated and overstated estimates, but that the concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorous in the litter are far lower, too.  The study concluded that new management practices, better growing environments, feed technology and genetics have improved efficiencies over the last 30 years.
"Everyone should have a vested interest in preserving watersheds across the country. The poultry industry is doing its part, and we're making progress. Individuals and their families who raise and process chickens on the land in these watersheds all swim in the same rivers, eat seafood out of the same bodies of water and enjoy the same waterways as do others. They want to preserve that as much as anyone."

Sanderson, Wayne Farms suspend operations in Laurel, Miss. due to city water woes

Operations at poultry processing plants owned by Wayne Farms and Sanderson Farms in Laurel, Miss., were put on hold after the Mississippi state health department advised that E. coli bacteria had been found in the city's water supply.
The state issued the warning on May 9, advising that city water utility customers boil all water before drinking it. The advisory was expected to last at least two days. Laurel has more than 23,258 water customers.
A Wayne Farms spokesperson said on May 13 operations had resumed after the state lifted its advisory on May 12. According to reports, the Sanderson Farms plant was looking to resume operations on May 13.
The state has deemed the water supply safe for all but six homes in Laurel.
City officials did not know the cause of the E. coli contamination.

Attorneys attempt settlement in Maryland poultry pollution case

Attorneys in a poultry pollution case filed by a University of Maryland environmental law clinic, representing plaintiffs suing Hudson Farm and Perdue Farms Inc., will try to settle the dispute during a conference in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, according to reports. The lawsuit claims that Hudson and Perdue are polluting a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay.
Farm groups and the governor of Maryland have criticized the lawsuit, saying that the suit could bankrupt Hudson Farm and set a harmful precedent for other family farms. The settlement conference is closed to the public.

US poultry groups concerned over proposed pollutant reporting rule

U.S. poultry industry groups recently submitted comments expressing concerns with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's proposed National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation Reporting Rule, which would require owners and operators of concentrated animal feeding operations to submit certain demographic information to the EPA.
According to the poultry industry groups' comments, the requirements of the rule, proposed on October 21, 2011, include providing detailed location information and farm demographics for nearly every family farm engaged in the production of commercial poultry and egg products in the U.S. The EPA says providing such information will help determine if a violation of the Clean Water Act has occurred.
“We’re convinced the authority the EPA claims under Section 308 of the Clean Water Act to collect information from non-discharging [concentrated animal feeding operations] oversteps what Congress intended when the law was written,” said Mike Brown, president of the National Chicken Council. According to the groups, making this kind of information readily available to the public puts the safety of the food chain at risk for acts of bioterrorism and increases the concern for the safety and privacy of family farmers who often live at the same location.
“We are pleased the EPA recognizes the benefit of developing programs that can assist poultry and egg producers with further tools to extend their stewardship efforts," said National Turkey Federation president Joel Brandenberger. "We urge the EPA to follow this course rather than initiate an information collection exercise that will do nothing to enhance water quality.” 

EPA notifies West Virginia poultry farmers to cease discharging pollutants

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has notified four poultry farmers in West Virginia to cease discharging pollutants from farms to waterways and obtain the necessary permits that are required by the Clean Water Act.
The EPA issued the orders following June inspections of five chicken and turkey operations in West Virginia. The inspections found that four of the five operations were concentrated animal feeding operations as defined by the Clean Water Act and that they had neither applied for nor obtained the required discharge permits. The fifth grower had already applied for the permit. Also, at four of the facilities inspected, man-made ditches draining stormwater away from the poultry houses and sheds containing manure and compost allowed pollutants to discharge to waterways during rain events.
The EPA and national and state poultry industry associations are in discussions on developing a program to educate growers on water quality and compliance issues. “Based on our experience, educating farmers on the requirements of the Clean Water Act goes a long way in helping them to protect and improve local water quality and increase compliance,” said EPA Regional Administrator Shawn M. Garvin. “We’ve had good results from working closely with integrators and trade associations, making sure farmers know how they can best reduce runoff and meet their regulatory responsibilities.”

Poultry industry responds to Pew environmental report

The U.S. poultry industry is committed to the responsible production of food that is safe, affordable and abundant, and is more diligent and innovative than ever in pursuing environmental improvements, according to the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association and the National Chicken Council in response to Pew's latest report, "Big Chicken: Pollution and Industrial Poultry Production in America."
The report focuses on the U.S. broiler industry's development over the last 50 to 60 years and its impact on the environment. “In just over 50 years, the broiler industry has been transformed from more than 1 million small farms spread across the country to a limited number of factory-style operations concentrated in 15 states,” said Karen Steuer with Pew. “This growth has harmed the environment, particularly water, because management programs for chicken waste have not kept pace with output.”
According to the poultry industry, the report fails to take into account the efforts of broiler companies to do their part to be good environmental stewards. "The 30,000 family farms and companies in the poultry community are involved in many different aspects of sustainability including animal welfare, recycling and waste reduction, worker safety and community concerns," said USPOULTRY and the NCC. "The Pew report fails to capture the true picture of the contributions we're committed to making today and in the future."

Freedman Farms pleads guilty to Clean Water Act hog waste violation

On July 6, Freedman Farms Inc. and its president, William B. Freedman, pleaded guilty in federal court in New Bern, N.C., to violating the Clean Water Act by dumping hog waste into a stream leading to the Waccamaw River, according to the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina.
Freedman Farms pleaded guilty to a felony violation of the Clean Water Act for discharging hog waste into Browder’s Branch, a tributary to the Waccamaw River, in December 2007. The hog waste was supposed to be directed to two lagoons for treatment and disposal. William Freedman pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor violation of the Clean Water Act for his role in the discharge.
“Owners and operators of concentrated animal feeding operations must comply with the nation’s Clean Water Act for the protection of America’s streams, wetlands and rivers,” said Ignacia S. Moreno, assistant attorney general for the Environment and Natural Resources Division at the Department of Justice. “Freedman and his farm failed to do so and should be held accountable for polluting waterways and wetlands in Columbus County and the Waccamaw River watershed.”  
The Clean Water Act is a federal law that makes it illegal to knowingly or negligently discharge a pollutant into waters of the United States, including those with a significant connection to a traditional navigable water.
According to the plea agreement, the government and the corporate defendant jointly requested that the court sentence Freedman Farms to pay $1.5 million, serve a probation term of five years and publish a public apology. Under the plea agreement for William Freedman, the defendant faces up to one year in prison.

EPA data scrutinized in Chesapeake Bay rule US House hearing

Representatives from the Agricultural Nutrient Policy Council and the poultry industry were among those testifying at the recent U.S. Congressional hearing involving the Environmental Protection Agency's Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load rule.
ANPC senior advisor Tom Herbert focused on certain discrepancies between EPA data and U.S. Department of Agriculture data, including baseline sediment loads (EPA numbers are three times USDA numbers), nitrogen estimates (EPA numbers are 25% lower than the USDA's) and phosphorus loads (EPA numbers are 25% higher than the USDA's). “In terms of sediment and phosphorus, this comparison could be interpreted to mean that agriculture has already met its TMDL obligations, and in the case of nitrogen it would indicate that in absolute terms agriculture can meet the EPA’s TMDL load allocation,” said Hebert. “But the real bottom line is that these differences are so substantial that the need for further work on the TMDL is apparent.”
Hobey Bauhan, president of Virginia Poultry Federation and representative for the National Chicken Council, National Turkey Federation and U.S. Poultry and Egg Association, said the EPA should recognize the poultry industry’s tools and programs that are improving water quality in the Chesapeake Bay watershed and across the nation. Family poultry farms in Virginia have, for more than a decade, expanded their conservation practices to enhance water quality, according to Bauhan. “The results of these actions are reflected in the EPA’s estimates that between 1985 and 2005 nutrient loads from agriculture decreased to the Chesapeake Bay, while nutrient loadings from developed lands increased by 16 percent,” he said.
Poultry industry representatives believe that heavy-handed federal mandates are unnecessary because states have already adopted effective regulations to improve water quality. “Imposing burdensome mandates based on questionable data only imposes more costs, paperwork and burdens on family farmers, while achieving few real benefits for water quality,” said Bauhan.

IPE program to examine Chesapeake Bay, national water quality standards

The 2011 International Poultry Expo's environmental education program will review the Total Maximum Daily Load requirements implemented for the Chesapeake Bay and examine their impact on nationwide water quality standards.
Experts will discuss effects the requirements may have on the poultry industry, as well as issues that may come up as a result of those effects. Speakers include LimnoTech Senior Scientist Pat Bradley, LimnoTech Vice President Adrienne Nemura and Environmental Defense Fund Deputy Director Suzy Friedman.

EPA's rule for numeric nutrient criteria may cost US farmers up to $1.1 billion by 2040

The Fertilizer Institute (TFI) has opposed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s rule to establish numeric nutrient criteria for nitrogen and phosphorus for waters in the state of Florida. Estimates indicate that the rule will cost U.S. farmers between $272 million and $1.1 billion by 2040.
“This rule has an enormous cost and little benefit and we are urging EPA to reconsider this action,” said TFI President Ford West. “We advocate smart and targeted policies that address water quality without placing an undue economic burden on farmers and the industries that support them.”
The rule goes into effect 15 months after publication, but the site-specific alternative criteria process will begin in 60 days. “While TFI appreciates the EPA’s efforts to remedy some of the arbitrary effects of its rule by delaying implementation, the fact remains that, with 12% unemployment and job recovery uncertain, this rule is a threat to many sectors of Florida’s economy, including the fertilizer industry,” said West.

Arsenic in field runoff linked to poultry litter

Fields amended with poultry litter can accumulate significant levels of arsenic, according to studies by USDA-Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists and associates. These findings provide key information about the agricultural pollutants that can build up in agricultural soils over time—and possibly migrate into nearby streams and rivers.
Poultry producers have sometimes supplemented chicken feed with roxarsone, a compound containing arsenic, to control parasites and promote weight gain. Most of this arsenic is excreted by the birds and then becomes mixed in with sawdust and other litter materials used in poultry houses. Farmers typically use the litter as a nutrient-rich—and free—fertilizer for amending their crop soils. Read the entire news release at: https://www.agronomy.org/news-media/releases/2010/0816/404/

Pollution trial involving Perdue to proceed

A trial against Perdue Farms and Maryland chicken farmers, Alan and Kristin Hudson, will move forward after a federal judge refused to dismiss the case accusing them of polluting a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay, according to a Baltimore Sun report.
The suit filed in March by the Waterkeeper Alliance, the Assateague Coastal Trust and Assateague Coastkeeper Kathy Phillips says a branch of the Pocomoke River received harmful levels of bacteria and nutrient pollution that flowed from a drainage ditch on the farm where chickens were raised for the company. Perdue and the Hudsons argued for dismissal on a variety of legal grounds, and Perdue said it should be let out of the lawsuit because it does not own the farm where chickens were raised under permit.

Oklahoma wants poultry companies to pay $25M in attorney's fees

In addition to requesting that U.S. courts limit poultry litter fertilizer application in the Illinois River watershed to 65 pounds per acre, the state of Oklahoma wants poultry companies to implement watershed remediation, pay civil penalties for alleged pollution since 1993 and pay for the state’s attorney fees, according to the Associated Press.
Oklahoma’s attorney fees total about $25M, according to the state’s attorney general.
Poultry companies should be required to remove all poultry waste from the watershed that exceeds the proposed 65-pound limit, a state said in a filing with the court. It also wants poultry producers to be subject to reporting and monitoring requirements.
Attorneys for the poultry industry said in their filing that restrictions on the use of poultry litter would impose huge economic burdens on both poultry producers and the farmers who use the product as a fertilizer. They said that the state has failed to prove that poultry litter imposes or will impose a “substantiated threat to human health, drinking water, recreational use or wildlife.”
Closing arguments in the case begin February 18.

Judge to hear final arguments in Oklahoma poultry suit

Final arguments in Oklahoma’s pollution lawsuit against poultry companies begin on February 11, Food Safety News reported. The state wants the court to permanently limit the application of poultry litter as fertilizer to no more than 65 pounds per acre and is seeking a ruling before the spring application cycle.
Attorneys for the poultry industry say that U.S. District Court Judge Gregory Frizzell should impose no limits because Oklahoma has not shown a "substantial threat to human health, drinking water, recreational use, or wildlife" posed by poultry litter.
The attorneys represent Cal-Maine Foods Inc., Cargill Inc., Cargill Turkey Production L.L.C., Cobb-Vantress Inc., George's Farms Inc., Peterson Farms Inc., Simmons Foods Inc., Tyson Chicken Inc. and Tyson Poultry Inc.
Oklahoma contends that runoff from fields fertilized with poultry litter have raised phosphorous levels in the Illinois River watershed and led to dropping oxygen levels in Lake Tenkiller.

Oklahoma poultry suit money-losing proposition for state’s law firm

The private law firm representing Oklahoma in its pollution suit against poultry companies will not receive any pay in 2010, according to Drew Edmondson, the state’s attorney general.
The Muskogee Phoenix reported that the state’s agreement with the lawyers specifies that they would be paid out of money awarded to Oklahoma by the court or in a settlement with the poultry companies. However, “Any cause of action where the state could recoup a lot of money or the lawyers could get paid a lot have been removed from the case,” Edmondson told the newspaper’s editorial board.
Edmondson estimated that the firm has accumulated $25 million to $30 million of expenses pursuing the case. He added that he hopes the court will grant an injunction against spring application of chicken litter fertilizer, which Oklahoma claims is polluting the Illinois River watershed and leading to low oxygen levels in Lake Tenkiller.