Guest guest Posted July 26, 2001 Report Share Posted July 26, 2001 EPA CAFO (Concentrated Animal Factory Operation) PUBLIC COMMENTS DEADLINE : JULY 30, 2001 PLEASE SEND YOUR COMMENTS NOW. IF YOU SEND BY POSTAL MAIL, IT MAY TAKE SEVERAL DAYS. DO NOT DELAY THIS. SEND EXPRESS MAIL IF YOU CAN. SAMPLE LETTER AND WHERE TO SEND LISTED BELOW : Thanks for your caring for billions of prisoned farm animals suffering for life and their final journey to death is even more horrible ! ======================================== EPA proposed revised factory farm regulations in January and is accepting public comment through July 30. SUMMARY: On January 12, 2001, EPA published a proposed rule that would revise the effluent limitations guidelines and standards and NPDES permitting regulations for concentrated animal feeding operations (66 FR 2960). In a subsequent document published on January 19, 2001 (66 FR 5524), a correction was issued that established May 14, 2001 as the deadline for the public to submit comments to EPA on the proposed rule. This document announces that EPA is extending the public comment period on this proposal. EPA will now accept comments on the proposed rule through July 30, 2001. DATES: Comments must be received by EPA with postmarked on or before midnight : July 30, 2001. ADDRESSES TO SEND : 1: Send written comments to EPA : Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations Proposed Rule, Office of Water, Engineering and Analysis , Division (4303), U.S. EPA, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460 2: Hand deliveries should be submitted to the : Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation Proposed Rule, USEPA, Waterside Mall, West Tower, Room 611, 401 M Street, SW., Washington, DC 20460. 3: You may also submit comments electronically to EPA : Email: CAFOS.comments (@epa.gov ) 4: Please also kindly send a COPY of the letter to EPA Administrator and Secretary of Agriculture : The Honorable Christine T Whitman EPA Administrator, 1101A USEPA Headquarters Ariel Rios Building 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N. W. Washington, DC 20460 Fax: 202-501-1450 Email: whitman.christine ,(@epamail.epa.gov ) The Honorable Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman, U.S. Department of Agriculture 14th & Independence Ave., SW Washington, DC 20250 Fax: (202) 720-2166 / email: ann.veneman (@usda.gov ) -------------- SPECIAL NOTES : 1: EPA requests an original and three copies of your comments and enclosures (including references). For additional information on how to submit comments, or further information Contact : Karen Metchis at : (202) 564-0734 or Jan Goodwin at : (202) 260-7152. 2: SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: EPA continues to invite comments on all aspects of the January 12, 2001 proposal. If you already submitted comments to EPA in response to the proposal, and wish to submit additional comments per today's extension, EPA requests that the later set of comments clearly specify whether they supplement or supersede the earlier-filed comments. You may review this : http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-WATER/2001/January/Day-12/w01a.htm =============================================== SAMPLE LETTER : Diane C. Regas, EPA, Acting Assistant Administrator for Water. Dear Administrator Regas: I am writing to express my support for strong regulation of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) to prevent these facilities from jeopardizing our public health and our environment. EPA estimates that these industrial hog, chicken, cattle and dairy operations pollute more than 27,000 miles of our rivers and streams. These animal factories also jeopardize public health by contaminating groundwater used for drinking water supplies and by emitting toxic gases and odors that sicken workers and community residents. In order for EPA's regulations to adequately protect public health and the environment, please incorporate the following components into the new regulations : 1. All CAFOs must be required to obtain individual National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits. 2. The public should be notified of all proposed CAFOs and have the opportunity to participate in the permitting process. 3. New CAFOs should not be allowed to use large-scale liquid waste lagoons and sprayfields, and existing lagoons and sprayfields should be phased out. In addition, there should be no exemptions for discharges from waste lagoons. 4. The integrators that exercise control over animal production in CAFOs should be designated as co-permittees with the CAFO operator in order to hold the industry responsible for waste management and pollution. 5. Atmospheric emissions of ammonia, methane, and hydrogen sulfide should be controlled. 6. The regulatory threshold defining a CAFO should not be lowered. The larger operations have contributed the most to air and water pollution. 7. The nutrient management plan should be an integral component of an application for a NPDES permit and must be available for public review and comment. All land application must have a nutrient management plan. Thank you for the opportunity to submit this as my official public comment. Sincerely, Your Name, Your Address, City, State, Zip U.S. Constituent. P.S.: Important References : 1: http://www.cwn.org/ 2: http://www.sierraclub.org/factoryfarms 3: http://www.gracepublicfund.org/docs/EPA.htm 4: http://www.nrdc.org/search/default.asp 5 : http://www.freefarmanimals.org/ http://www.farmsanctuary.org http://www.factoryfarming.com http://www.factoryfarm.org http://www.hfa.org http://www.peta.org/mc/facts/index.html http://www.vegsource.com/lyman/schedule.htm http://www.meat.org/animals.htm http://www.meat.org/holocaust.htm http://www.vegsource.com http://www.api4animals.org/areas.asp?C=1 & ID=430#Slaughter http://www.meatstinks.com/VegKit/meetmeat.html http://milksucks.com/osteo.html http://www.CowsAreCool.com http://www.madcowboy.com/ http://www.meatstinks.com http://www.banbatterycages.org/research/tour.html http://www.freefarmanimals.org/bc_evidence.htm http://www.veganoutreach.org/whyvegan/animals.html http://www.stopeatinganimals.org/ http://www.milksucks.com http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60798-2001Apr9.html (****** Letter Ends here *******) @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ BACKGROUND INFORMATION : Animal Factories are giant, corporate-owned animal-growing facilities that confine thousands of animals in one facility, and produce staggering amounts of animal waste (2.7 trillion pounds per year). Too often, this waste leaks into our rivers and streams, fouling our air, contaminating our drinking water and spreading disease. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, hog, chicken and cattle waste has polluted more than 27,000 miles of rivers and contaminated groundwater in 17 states. Current regulations to prevent air and water pollution from CAFOs are riddled with loopholes, allowing some 70 percent of large factory farms to escape regulation. Even in cases in which EPA or states have required permits, the permits do not prevent untreated manure from reaching waterways. EPA proposed revised factory farm regulations in January 2001 and is accepting public comment through July 30. Please find below information about the comments that we feel are necessary to ensure that CAFOs are regulated to protect the environment and the best interests of communities that live near CAFOs. 1. All CAFOs must be required to obtain individual National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits. Currently, most CAFOs are eligible for a General Permit. General Permits fail to protect air and water quality because they allow CAFOs to self-monitor and self-inspect, which is a free ticket to pollute. 2. The public should be notified of all proposed CAFOs and have the opportunity to participate in the permitting process. People should have an effective voice in decisions that will affect their communities. Notifying people that a CAFO plans to locate in their community and allowing them to participate in the permitting process gives community residents a voice and some control over what happens to the quality of life and the character of their community. 3. New CAFOs should not be allowed to use large-scale liquid waste lagoons and sprayfields, and existing lagoons and sprayfields should be phased-out. In addition, there should be no exemptions for discharges from waste lagoons. Waste lagoons are a public health nuisance and an accident waiting to happen. Sometimes the size of a football field, and filled with manure rich in polluting nitrogen and phosphorus, these lagoons, too often have spilled, contaminating groundwater, rivers and lakes, killing fish and other aquatic life. Sprayfields are areas where CAFO operators apply waste (manure, rotting animal carcasses, other wastes) from their operations as a " fertilizer " . Too often, this waste is overapplied to the land and runs off, contaminating surrounding water bodies. The current CAFO regulations allow an exemption for discharges from lagoons (and production areas) during a 24-hour 25 year rain event. The new regulations should not allow, in any circumstances, waste from these lagoons to enter into waterways. 4. The integrators that exercise control over animal production in CAFOs should be designated as co-permittees with the CAFO operator in order to hold the industry responsible for waste management and pollution. Giant corporations (integrators) who own the livestock at many poultry and pig factories bear no legal responsibility for the massive water pollution these operations cause. To escape accountability the corporations contract with independent growers to raise the animals. When EPA or state agencies issue Clean Water Act permits, the legal responsibility for complying with pollution requirements lies with the contract growers and the big corporations are off the hook, with no incentive to deal with the massive amount of waste in an environmentally responsible manor. The big corporations should be designated as co-permittees with the CAFO operator in order to hold the industry responsible for waste management and pollution. 5. Atmospheric emissions of ammonia, methane, and hydrogen sulfide should be controlled. Noxious fumes from these chemicals emanate from sprayfields and open-waste lagoons. The fumes are severely nauseating to nearby residents. 6. The regulatory threshold defining a CAFO should not be lowered because it is the larger operations that have contributed the most to air and water pollution. With limited enforcement resources, regulatory agencies will have the greatest effect limiting pollution from CAFOs if the agencies target regulations and enforcement efforts on those facilities that are the largest contributors to air and water pollution. 7. The nutrient management plan is to be considered an integral component of an application for a NPDES permit and must be available for public review and comment. Animal waste is rich in the nutrients phosphorus and nitrogen and can be a useful fertilizer when applied to crops at appropriate rates. But when overapplied to land or spilled and leaked from waste lagoons, these chemicals can enter groundwater, rivers and lakes, killing fish and other aquatic life and contaminating drinking water supplies. Nutrient management plans help to keep harmful levels of nutrients from polluting water supplies. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Thanks so much for your kindness, compassion and urgent help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.