Posted October 25, 2013
 
In Alt v. EPA, a federal judge ruled against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), stating stormwater from a West Virginia chicken farm is exempt from National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit requirements, according to State Journal article, available here.
 
U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of West Virginia, John Preston Bailey, ruled that the runoff entering the Chesapeake Bay watershed from Lois Alt’s Eight is Enough Farm is stormwater and, as a result, is not subject to regulation under the Clean Water Act.  The order is available here.
 
Lois Alt filed a lawsuit against the EPA in June of 2012 after the agency “threatened her with $37,500 in fines each time stormwater came into contact with dust, feathers, or manure on the ground outside of her poultry houses,” according to an article by Agri-Pulse, available here.  EPA also threatened separate fines of $37,500 per day if Alt failed to apply for a NPDES permit for the discharges.  The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) and the West Virginia Farm Bureau intervened in the case as co-plaintiffs, believing the case had broader implications for other poultry and livestock farmers.
 
AFBF President Bob Stallman said, “We are pleased the court flatly rejected EPA’s arguments and ruled in favor of Lois Alt…The outcome of this case will benefit thousands of livestock and poultry farmers who run their operations responsibly and who should not have to get a federal permit for ordinary rainwater from their farmyards.”
 
When the EPA ordered Alt to obtain a permit, the agency took the legal position that the Clean Water Act’s exemption for “agricultural storm water discharges” does not apply to farms classified as “concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), except in areas where crops are grown. 

 

Additional case filings are available here.  For more information on the Clean Water Act, please visit the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
 
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