Additionally, if an owner sends the manure off-site to another parcel of land, that parcel is not required to be covered by a nutrient management plan. Until recently, under state water quality laws, Pennsylvania had consistently exempted manure storage facilities and land application of manure from any permitting requirements so long as the operations were in accordance with the antiquated and inadequate state manure management manual. The state is now in the process of developing a permit program for feedlots under the Clean Water Act and the state's Clean Streams Law. In June 1998, the draft permit program was published for public comment. Nutrient management plans would also be required.
Details regarding the final program, including relevant permit conditions, remain to be seen.
This permitting program will not address air quality problems, since it is limited to water quality protection. Since CAFOs have received no permits and the state's Clean Streams Law has not been applied to CAFOs, up until now, there has been little programmatic effort in Pennsylvania to monitor or enforce state or federal clean water laws with respect to concentrated animal operations. Any enforcement efforts in the past have been purely complaint driven. Although permitting requirements are rapidly evolving, opportunities for citizen involvement with respect to the siting, design, construction and operation of factory farms have been extremely limited in Pennsylvania. Up until January 1998, facilities and manure-spreading activities had not been subject to permitting requirements, thus limiting opportunities for citizen comment on such operations.