Notice of Availability: Draft Guidance Manual and Example NPDES Permit for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Notice of availability of draft guidance.

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Today's document makes available for public comment the draft Guidance Manual and Example NPDES Permit for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations for public review and comment. This draft guidance is being published to meet one EPA's key action items in the recently released U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)-Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Unified National Strategy for Animal Feeding Operations (March 1999). The draft guidance is intended to provide assistance to EPA and State permit writers, who are responsible for issuing NPDES permits to reduce risk to water quality and human health from animal feeding operations. The Unified National Strategy set forth a range of flexible, common-sense actions that USDA and EPA plan to take over a multi-year period to promote proper management of animal manure and wastewater in order to minimize the water quality and public health impacts of animal feeding operations. In the short-term, EPA is focused on improving implementation of the NPDES permitting program consistent with existing regulations, including today's publication of this draft guidance manual. Over the long-term, EPA plans to revise its regulations to reflect substantial changes in the animal production industry over the past several decades. Throughout this multi-year process, EPA will provide opportunities for interested parties to offer comments on its draft guidance documents and proposed regulations. A key objective of both the Unified National Strategy and this draft guidance is to accelerate issuance of sound, legally defensible NPDES permits for large CAFOs (e.g. operations with greater than 1,000 animal units) by January of 2000. The draft guidance being made available today is intended to aid EPA and State permitting authorities in meeting this goal. Consistent with the Unified National Strategy, USDA is currently in the process of developing an important companion document that will provide guidance on how to develop sound comprehensive nutrient management plans (CNMPs), which EPA and State permitting authorities will incorporate into NPDES permits as special conditions. USDA's draft guidance is expected to be available for public review and comment later this summer. EPA believes that comments from a wide range of interested stakeholders is important to produce a final guidance document that will help EPA and State permitting authorities issue NPDES permits that achieve the goal of reducing risk to water quality and human health from animal feeding operations. EPA is interested in receiving comments from reviewers of the draft Guidance Manual and Example NPDES Permit for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, and will carefully consider this input as it prepares a final guidance document for publication later this year.

Written comments should be submitted by October 25, 1999 to the address below.

Address all comments to Gregory Beatty, US EPA, 401 M Street, SW, Mail Code 4203, Washington, DC 20460. Submit electronic comments to beatty.gregory@epa.gov.

Gregory Beatty, (202) 260-6929 or Will Hall (202) 260-1458.

Dated: August 6, 1999. J. Charles Fox, Assistant Administrator for Water. [FR Doc. 99-22157 Filed 8-24-99; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6560-50-M