STORMWATER EXEMPTION EMERGES AS KEY ISSUE IN EPA CAFO RULE CHANGES

EPA's court-ordered effort to revise its rule regulating concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) is facing a key test over whether the agency will require facilities that discharge stormwater, but no other pollutants, to obtain discharge permits. Environmentalists are arguing that such permits should be required, while key Republican lawmakers and the agriculture industry are pushing for an exemption in revisions to the CAFO rule the agency plans to unveil later this month. The dispute over the stormwater issue comes as...