Revised Livestock Waste Rules Workable, FB Says
WASHINGTON, D.C. Reg
ulations to curb pollution from
livestock waste announced by the
Environmental Protection Agen
cy “represent a reasonable ap
proach that will help solve the
problem without overburdening
farmers and ranchers,” the na
tion’s largest farm organization
noted.
“The new rules are workable
and are compatible with the envi
ronmental initiatives authorized
in the 2002 Farm Bill,” said
American Farm Bureau Federa
tion President Bob Stallman. “It
is unlikely we could achieve
much progress on this front if the
rules are too costly for farmers to
carry out or they work at cross
purposes with existing environ
mental programs.”
While Stallman said the rules
“balance various interests” and
“lean toward site-specific, rather
than ‘one-size-fits-aIT solutions,”
he said Farm Bureau does have
some concerns about the plan.
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“We believe the land applica
tion restrictions on spreading ma
nure and other nutrients go be
yond the reach of the federal
Clean Water Act,” said Stallman.
In addition, he said the lack of an
exemption for discharges caused
by rare and severe storms would
be “troublesome for farmers.” He
also said the rules are more strin
gent for new poultry and hog op
erations than they are for other
operations, which he called “in
equitable.”
The Concentrated Animal
Feeding Operations, or CAFO,
regulations announced were first
proposed two years ago but were
revised after more than 12,000
comments-many of them crit
ical—were submitted to EPA.
Farm Bureau had questioned the
accuracy of the data used to for
mulate the rules, which would
have expanded EPA’s regulatory
scope from an estimated 3,000
livestock operations to 39,000.
Under the new rules, 12-15,000
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“The new rules underscore the
importance of maintaining and
funding the water quality pro-
USDA Proposes Livestock, Meat
Marketing Claims Standards
WASHINGTON, D.C.
USDA is soliciting comments on
proposed minimum standards for
livestock and meat industry
production/marketing claims.
These standards, when adopted,
will become the U.S. Standards
for Livestock and Meat Market
ing Claims.
Increasingly, livestock and
meat producers are using produc
tion and/or processing claims to
distinguish their products in the
marketplace. USDA’s Agricul
tural Marketing Service, through
its voluntary certification and/or
audit programs, verifies the accu-
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Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 4, 2003-A4l
grams contained in the Farm from livestock waste but the rules
Bill,” Stallman asserted. “These announced will achieve little if
programs authorize about $1 bil- we don’t go forward with the
lion a year to address problems programs already in place.”
racy of these claims. The pro
posed standards will establish the
minimum requirements for those
livestock and meat producers
who choose to operate a USDA
certified or verified program in
volving marketing claims.
Notice of the opportunity to
submit comments will be pub
lished in the Dec. 30, 2002, Fed
eral Register.
Comments may be submitted
to Chief, Standardization
Branch, AMX Livestock and
Seed Program, USDA Stop 0254,
1400 Independence Ave., SW,
Washington, D.C. 20250-0254;
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telephone (202) 720-4486; fax
(202) 720-1112; or e-mail market
ingclaim@usda.gov. Comments
must be submitted on or before
March 31,2003.
All comments received will be
made available for public inspec
tion at the above address during
regular business hours, 8 a.m.-
4:30 p.m., or at www.ams.
usda.gov/lsg/stand/claim.htm.
These proposed U.S. Standards
for Livestock and Meat Market
ing Claims are available through
the above addresses or by acces
sing www.ams.usda.gov/lsg/
stand/st-pubs.htm.