SUMMARY LIST OF MAJOR CONCERNS REGARDING DRAFT CAFO DISCHARGE PERMIT

1. The DNRE should establish a review and construction permit process for CAFO waste storage facilities similar to what is done for municipal and industrial wastewater treatment facilities. Included with these standards should be a prohibition on above-grade storage facilities that depend on earthen berms. Also, perimeter drains and monitoring wells should be installed around storage structures, and these monitoring wells should be adequately sampled and the results should be reported to the State.

2. The Department should not allow winter application of CAFO wastes, which do not constitute agronomic applications since no crops are actively growing on the land at the time that could take up these nutrients. As a result, the nutrients are available to pass into the groundwater and eventually into nearby surface waters, threatening water quality and wasting valuable nutrients that should be cycled back to the land.

3. The Department should maintain the language as written in the most resent draft copy regarding public notification of new fields. If the requirements of the discharge permit are being met, CAFOs should have more than enough time to provide public notification for any new land application fields. The permit should encourage CAFOs to view CAFO wastes as a valuable fertilizer commodity rather than a liability requiring disposal.

4. The Department should require all fields currently being used for disposal of CAFO wastes be reevaluated based on the new information submittal requirements in the draft permit to ensure that the surface and ground waters of the State are protected. Public notice should be required for these fields if not previously given.

5. Tile drain outlets from land application fields should be sampled to analyze and verify that water leaving the field does not exceed water quality standards, and these results should be submitted to the State for review. Fields that produce drainage that exceeds water quality standards should be required to make modifications to ensure that CAFO wastes do not degrade nearby surface waters.

6. CAFO wastes transferred or manifested to other farms or land appliers should only be applied to soils that have been thoroughly assessed, inspected prior to and after application, or that they are applied at agronomic rates or incorporated within 24 hours as required on lands owned and operated by large CAFO waste generators. The same requirements should apply to ANY field that CAFO wastes are applied to, INCLUDING manifested wastes.

7. Michigan TU is very concerned that CAFOs employing liquid manure systems could degrade nearby groundwater quality. High strength wastes that are land applied have been known to result in leaching of metals such as iron, manganese, and arsenic from the soil which can impair water quality. The Department requires other industries that apply their wastewater to the ground to monitor groundwater leaving their property, and the same should be required of CAFOs facilities and land application fields.