WaterNews for March 5, 1998

WaterNews is a weekly on-line publication that announces publications, policies, and activities of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Water.

EPA Releases draft "Strategy for Addressing Environmental and Public Health Impacts from Animal Feeding Operations" for Public Comment

In its first action under the Clinton Administration's new Clean Water Action Plan to finish the job of cleaning up the nation's rivers, lakes and coastal areas, EPA today released for public comment a draft strategy to minimize the public health and environmental impacts from animal feeding operations (AFOs). The strategy calls for new water pollution control requirements and immediate inspections and increased enforcement for large animal feeding operations to reduce animal waste runoff into waterways.

As part of this strategy, EPA also is releasing a final enforcement strategy, the "Compliance Assurance Implementation Plan for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations." The plan provides for increased targeted CAFO inspections based on environmental risk: states and EPA regions will inspect all high priority CAFOs in three years with the remainder in five years. Other provisions of the plan include increased compliance assistance; increased enforcement; development of state-specific compliance/enforcement strategies; a national enforcement initiative; and increased support to regions and states in the form of inspector training, targeting assistance and development of enforcement tools.

Copies of the draft AFO strategy are available from EPA's Water Resource Center at 202-260-7786 or on the Internet at http://www.epa.gov/owm/afo.htm. Written comments will be accepted until May 1, l998, and may be submitted to Ruby Cooper- Ford, U.S. EPA, Mail Code 4203, Washington, D. C. 20460, or by e-mail: Ford.Ruby@epamail.epa.gov.

Copies of the final enforcement strategy, the "Compliance Assurance Implementation Plan for CAFOs," will be available on the Internet at: http://www.epa.gov/OECA/agbranch.html (not available 12/21/98), or by contacting Michelle Stevenson at 202-564-2355.

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