Environmental Groups Ask EPA to End Ag Stormwater Exemption

Environmental groups are asking the Scott Pruitt-led U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to do something not even the previous pro-regulation administration would do -- tighten Clean Water Act regulations on concentrated animal feeding operations.  A petition filed with EPA by Food and Water Watch and 34 other environmental groups, essentially is a wish list that includes regulating all CAFOs as pollution point sources, including the spreading of manure in fields, runoff from CAFO production areas, and not allowing CAFOs to claim the CWA agriculture exemption for stormwater discharges.The groups said in the petition EPA's inaction has led to a patchwork of state laws, many of which have been ineffective in reducing water pollution.In the petition, the groups ask for the agency to promulgate new CAFO rules.