Ohio Aims to Transfer NPDES to Dept. of Agriculture

The state of Ohio has embarked on a course to neutralize its obligations under the Clean Water Act program for concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) by requesting that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency transfer its permitting authority from the Ohio EPA (OEPA) to the state’s Department of Agriculture (ODA). Waterkeeper Alliance is among 14 organizations that have submitted comments with the goal of stopping this unprecedented and detrimental shift of power.

In a nut shell…

…the transfer of Ohio’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program from OEPA to ODA, commenced in an October 15, 2008 Federal Register notice and continued through a December 22, 2009 Ohio Bill authorizing transfer, presents a multitude of environmental risks; most significantly, the risk that ODA will not require  CAFOs to apply for NPDES permits, as required by the Clean Water Act (CWA), or if it does issue permits, that those permits will fail to meet even the most basic obligations of the Clean Water Act, including stringency, citizen participation and enforcement. Effective enforcement and permitting under the CWA depends heavily on the vigilance of the agency that is given authority to implement the law. – Excerpt from the comment letter to the NPDES Programs Branch

Background:
Ohio’s main reasoning for pushing this transfer is based on the premise that CAFOs are agricultural operations and, therefore, they should be monitored by the Department of Ag.  This reasoning ignores:

•  The intent of the program (that this is an environmental program that must be implemented and enforced solely with environmental issues in mind, not with the undue influence of agricultural business interests ensconced within)
• The state Department of the Environment is the only agency adequately experienced, knowledgeable and otherwise suited to run such an environmental program, which is why in every other state the NPDES program is administered by that state’s Department of the Environment.