The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency withdrew a proposed rule that would have required livestock and poultry farmers to report about their operations and undermined court decisions related to producer obligations under the Clean Water Act.

According to Western Farm Press, this move was applauded by the National Pork Producers Council.

EPA’s proposed Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) Reporting Rule sought to have CAFOs submit to the agency operational information so it could “more effectively carry out its CAFO permitting programs on a national level and ensure that CAFOs are implementing practices to protect water quality and human health.”

“As we have consistently stated, the proposed rule was the result of a sweetheart settlement between EPA and environmentalists that would have provided no public health protections,” said R.C. Hunt, NPPC president and a pork producer from Wilson, N.C. “It would have been a duplicative and burdensome paperwork exercise for producers and clearly was an effort to undermine court decisions that said producers who don’t discharge into waterways don’t need a CWA permit.”

For the full report, click here.

This article posted July 23, 2012.