December 2, 2009

 

Maryland resumes poultry house constructions

 

 

Halted in the past few months due to environment issues, new construction of poultry houses in Maryland will now resume thanks to the work of an industry stakeholder group.

 

The stakeholder group, which met earlier this year, was made up of poultry integrators, Farm Credit, Delmarva Poultry Industry (DPI) Inc., the Maryland Department of Agriculture, the Natural Resources Conservation Service and Soil Conservation districts, among others.

 

The group came up with recommendations to address the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) new regulations on Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs). Those new regulations involve achieving a zero discharge for all new CAFOs.

 

Recommendations from the stakeholder group were presented to the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) and then forwarded to EPA. Since then, the industry has been awaiting EPA's response.

 

MDE Deputy Secretary Bob Summers said EPA Region 3 approved the standards that MDE submitted for review. He added that MDE believes that these standards, which are based on the good work done by the agricultural workgroup chaired by Kenny Bounds of (MidAtlantic) Farm Credit, are both protective of the environment and can be reasonably implemented by new poultry operations.

 

The EPA has agreed and approved them for use in Maryland's permits until new federal standards are promulgated and approved, Summers said.

 

Bounds, vice president of government affairs for MidAtlantic Farm Credit, said that overall, he's pleased that the EPA approved the group's recommendations. He said that he's spoken with officials at both MDE and EPA, and they say these recommendations will apply nationally, so that there's no disparity between different regions.

 

That's good news, Bounds added, because it will take away the concern that Maryland is at a competitive disadvantage from other areas.

 

Maryland Secretary of Agriculture Buddy Hance said the industry workgroup's recommendations were invaluable in moving forward with the EPA and complying with its regulations.

 

Bill Satterfield, DPI executive director, said that DPI is pleased that EPA accepted the recommendations, but the industry is waiting for clarification on some points.

 

Best management practices recommended by the stakeholders fell into three categories: Waste storage and handling, site runoff management and setbacks.

 

Practices under the waste storage and handling category included:

• Manure storage to prevent nutrient runoff from entering surface and groundwater;
• Proper disposal of dead animals in a way that protects surface and ground water;
• Heavy use protection for manure handling in high-traffic areas;
• Heavy use pads shall be installed on all new poultry farm sites on both houses and manure storage sheds;
• Good housekeeping of the heavy use pads shall take place following each clean out to achieve debris-free pads; and
• Zero manure storage or staging shall occur in the animal production area unless under covered manure structure.

• Stormwater management for controlling runoff within the production area;
• Vegetative buffers for non-vegetated or poorly vegetated drainage swales between confinement buildings such as chicken houses;
• Vegetative buffers for filtering storm runoff between waste storage structures, composters or ends of the confinement buildings, poultry houses and drainage outlets;
• Vegetative environmental buffers to reduce particulates and ammonia from tunnel fans;
• Water control structure to reduce nutrients and sediments in water courses;
• Access road to reduce erosion and sedimentation and improve water management;
• Wetlands for treating runoff within the production area;
• "Clean" stormwater controls;
• "Clean' stormwater containment; and
• Contaminated stormwater containment.

• All poultry houses, storage sheds and composters shall be situated a minimum of 100 feet from waters of the state;
• All poultry houses, storage sheds and composters shall be situated a minimum of 100 feet from domestic wells; and
• All entry drives will be a minimum of 50 feet wide at the roadway, narrowing to a 12-foot minimum lane width, unless restricted by a local or state governing jurisdiction.