Ranchers say proposed rule poses threat

Area cattle and poultry ranchers, dairy owners and other large factory farm owners worry that a proposed Environmental Protection Agency water safety rule goes too far and actually poses a security threat. The new rule would require more information to be supplied to the EPA including the location of each large factory farm, also known as a concentrated animal feeding operation. Ranchers insist that for security reasons, locations of concentrated animal feeding operations must be kept confidential. They complain that providing operational information to the EPA would also bog down the small office staffs that run large factory farms. The proposed rule, made in response to a 2010 settlement agreement between the EPA and three environmental groups, proposes two options for collecting and managing data related to how water is discharged from large factory farms. One option would require every concentrated animal feeding operation to report directly to the EPA. The other would require reporting only from large farms in watersheds where concerns exist about water quality. Possible methods of collecting information under the new rule include submission of survey forms by farm owners, the collection of information by state or federal agencies, or reliance on information that is already available...more