Animal Waste Disposal Issues

CHAPTER 2

HOG WASTE SPILLS RESULT IN REGULATORY CHANGES IN NORTH CAROLINA

North Carolina is the number one meat-producing state in the United States, with the swine industry alone accounting for 8.9 million hogs and 4,500 operations. During the summer of 1995, there were six reported spills totaling almost 30 million gallons of animal waste from waste operations at animal feeding facilities in the state. Five of the six spills occurred at swine facilities.

At the time of the spills, North Carolina had issued no NPDES permits to any livestock or poultry feeding operations.⁽¹⁾ The state did have a "no-discharge" program in place for its animal feeding operations, which was, in many ways, stricter than the federal CAFO regulations. Yet, in 1995, the discharges from animal waste operations associated with animal feeding facilities reached surface waters in the state, and resulted in varying amounts of damage. After the spills occurred, the state passed legislation to further strengthen its regulatory program related to animal feeding operations. North Carolina has not issued an NPDES permit to any livestock or poultry feeding operation.

Forty-two of the states have met federal requirements and have been delegated authority to administer their state's NPDES program, as allowed by CWA section 402(b). North Carolina received its delegation in 1976. In general, North Carolina is considered by EPA personnel, both at Headquarters and Region 4, to be a leader among the states in addressing water quality issues and to have strong water quality programs. However, Region 4 was recently sued by an environmental group for failing to require North Carolina to set and enforce "firm thresholds" for nitrogen in the Neuse River plan. As mentioned earlier, increased levels of nitrogen in surface waters can occur as a result of improper land application or spills of animal waste, though animal waste disposal is only one of several possible sources of increased levels of nitrogen.

State "Deemed Permitted" Program

Before 1993, North Carolina had a "no-discharge" requirement that considered animal waste facilities "deemed permitted" as long as the facility was not discharging animal waste. There were no registration or reporting requirements, and state inspections were performed only if there was a complaint. In 1993, the state strengthened its regulations. Facilities were still "deemed permitted" with no discharge, but registration of the facility was required based on the number of animals. For hog operations, registration was required when the operation accommodated 250 or more hogs. The state based its registration requirement on the number of animals at which a facility would need a "wet" animal waste management system that would include a lagoon. The regulations also required that registered facilities have an animal waste management plan which had to meet, at a minimum, Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) standards for North Carolina, as certified by a technical specialist⁽²⁾. Existing facilities had to have these plans completed by the end of 1997. New and expanding operations had to have the certified animal waste management plan in place prior to stocking animals at the facility.

Despite these stricter requirements, there were six spills from animal waste operations in North Carolina in 1995. The spills included a 22 million gallon spill from a swine facility, a 6 million gallon spill from a poultry facility, and a total of 2 million gallons from four separate spills at four different swine facilities. Heavy rainfall contributed to all of the spills. Poor management contributed to several of them. An NRCS engineering report about the 22 million gallon spill found that the lagoon was breached during a period of rainfall that was much higher than normal and at a time when the lagoon liquid level was very near the top of its embankment. In total, almost 30 million gallons of animal waste were spilled in North Carolina in 1995.

Changes Occur After The Spills

After the 1995 spills, the Governor directed that a statewide inspection of animal waste lagoons be completed. More than 3,600 lagoons were surveyed, with 124 lagoons identified as being at great risk of overflowing or bursting. An additional 526 lagoons were identified as having effluent higher than desired, placing them near a critical point. The state legislature also passed additional requirements for animal waste operations. The additional requirements include permitting; annual inspections of facilities; certification of operators of animal waste management systems; stricter lagoon construction requirements; and siting requirements for the animal feeding facilities. The state established a general permit with five sections. The performance standards section requires an animal waste management plan that maintains the no-discharge requirement except in certain storm events. The operations and maintenance requirements include nutrient management for land application of waste. Other requirements of the permit are monitoring and reporting with required recordkeeping, inspections, and general conditions. State environmental personnel noted that the animal waste management plan is the "backbone" of the permit system, because this certified plan establishes the individual requirements for a facility that include nutrient management procedures. The general permit, with its animal waste management plan requirements, provides a stronger enforcement tool than the "deemed permitted" system.

General permit requirements were not yet finalized at the time of our visit to the state, so we could not assess the impact of the new program on the state's compliance and enforcement program. North Carolina had taken action against those operations involved in the 1995 spills, as well as others, and Region 4 considered these actions to be adequate. The operator of the hog facility which spilled 22 million gallons of waste was fined approximately $104,000 in penalty and enforcement costs. However, this operation, which, after the discharge, met the definition of a CAFO, does not have an NPDES permit.

We discussed North Carolina's new requirements with federal, state, and industry officials. Many individuals we talked to agreed that it was a reasonable expectation for a large animal feeding operation to have an animal waste management plan. The certification requirement for operators of animal waste management was also considered important, but we found that the reasonableness of this requirement was not as universally accepted as the requirement for an animal waste management plan.

By strengthening the state regulations related to animal feeding operations, North Carolina is in a better position to protect the state's water quality from accidental spills and improper land application of animal waste effluent. The improvement in the state's animal waste management program is due to the state's efforts, involving several different state offices, with significant assistance from NRCS, and the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service.

EPA did not significantly contribute to the improvements in the state's program. EPA Region 4 offered manpower assistance to the state for its initial lagoon inspection program in 1995, but the state said that its legislature had provided additional funding to complete the inspections. The state did write the Region later requesting assistance in the form of funding. Region 4 offered technical assistance and was trying to ensure that grant funds were directed toward animal waste issues.

Region 4 has an Agriculture Coordinator, but the coordinator had visited the state of North Carolina only once in three years, in November 1996. Travel fund limitations were cited as the reason for no travel to the state for three years, including the summer of 1995 when the state was experiencing spills from animal feeding facilities. The Region was taking some steps to address the animal waste issue. A team to look at animal waste issues has been established. One of the team's goals was to develop a regional strategy on animal waste issues.

Footnotes

North Carolina has issued four NPDES permits to aquaculture feeding operations which are regulated separately from livestock and poultry operations.
Technical specialists were designated by the North Carolina Soil and Water Commission. Technical specialists can include engineers, agronomists, and soil scientists.

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