990326 White House Targets Farm Pollution

Washington - Cattle feedlots and large hog and poultry farms will face tighter regulations under a new national water pollution control strategy from the Clinton administration.

But some of the more stringent requirements, including compliance with permits under tougher federal standards, would not go into effect for several years under the plan, some environmentalists complained.

The federal strategy for reducing nutrient runoff into waterways from large, concentrated agricultural facilities was being announced today by Vice President Al Gore.

Environmentalists briefed by the plan on Monday said it does not go far enough to address the severe problems of pollution from thousands of large “factory farms” including poultry producers, hog farms and cattle feedlots.

“It will not solve the growing problem of factory farm pollution soon enough,” said Robbin Marks of the Natural Resources Defense Council. The environmentalists said the government should impose a moratorium on permits for such facilities and move to close open-air waste lagoons at such sites.

Administration officials said the plan will require thousands of additional facilities to get permits and develop nutrient management plans. While the regulations will not go into effect until after 2001, thousands of additional operators will have to get permits under existing standards.

“This comprehensive strategy tackles a major threat to water quality. Through tough standards and flexible new approaches, we can ensure communities across the country cleaner, safer water,” Gore planned to tell environmental and agricultural leaders at a meeting at the White House.

The broad outline is similar to a draft version released last September and is aimed at providing the blueprint for new regulations to control runoff from feed lots, large hog farms and poultry farms.

The Environmental Protection Agency is to develop the new technology standards for reducing pollution, mostly nutrient runoff into lakes and streams.

Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, called it “a giant leap toward holding the biggest livestock producers accountable for water pollution.”

But environmentalists were not as enthusiastic.

“It does nothing in the near-term to address the serious shortcomings of current animals waste practices,” said Joe Rudek, a scientists for the Environmental Defense Fund.

Kathryn Hohmann of the Sierra Club said the plan provides “no real protection of groundwater” and will do little to address air pollution from such facilities.

“Instead of cleaning up, the plan will have many of the largest factory farms writing up strategies for storing and disposing large volumes of manure, based on existing federal waste management standards and practices,,” said the Environmental Defense Fund in a statement.

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