Opinion ID: 4253284
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Practical Sense of the Permitting Scheme

Text: It makes practical sense that a CAFO is itself a point source. A CAFO can discharge pollutants through pipes, ditches, channels, or similar conduits; but it often discharges pollutants directly, without using any such conduit. For example, a CAFO for land-based animals such as a cattle feeding lot can discharge pollutants from a manure storage “lagoon” into navigable waters through direct seepage into the earth or through overflows from the lagoon. See, e.g., Waterkeeper All., Inc. v. E.P.A., 399 F.3d 486, 494 (2d Cir. 2005) (“[P]ollutants can infiltrate the surface waters in a variety of ways including . . . overflows from storage ‘lagoons[.]’”). A CAFO for aquatic animals, such as a salmon farm, often discharges pollutants directly into navigable waters. Since a CAFO requires an NPDES permit, the permit covers all discharges from the CAFO however the discharges are made, including through pipes, ditches, and channels. See, e.g., Cmty. Ass’n for Restoration of the Env’t v. Henry Bosma Dairy, 305 F.3d 943, 955 (9th Cir. 2002) (“[F]ields where manure is stored and ditches therein are part of the CAFO and thus, point sources”). It also makes practical sense that pipes, ditches, and channels that discharge pollutants from a non-concentrated aquatic animal production facility are point sources. If the facility is not a CAAPF, it cannot be required to obtain an NPDES permit as a CAAPF. But the fact that an aquatic animal production facility is not a CAAPF does not mean that the facility does not discharge pollutants through pipes, 14 OLYMPIC FOREST COALITION V. COAST SEAFOODS ditches, and channels. To the degree that such a facility discharges pollutants through pipes, ditches, and channels, those pipes, ditches, and channels are point sources. If they were not point sources, a non-concentrated aquatic animal production facility would be free to pollute at will, exempt from any regulation under the CWA and the NPDES system. Coast disagrees, arguing that a non-concentrated aquatic animal production facility is necessarily not a significant contributor of pollution. That is, if the facility does not satisfy the criteria of 40 C.F.R. § 122.24, Appendix C, and has not been designated a CAAPF by the Director or an authorized state official applying the factors listed in § 122.24(c), the facility is necessarily not a significant polluter. Therefore, argues Coast, it does not make sense to characterize as point sources pipes, ditches, and channels that discharge pollutants from non-concentrated aquatic animal production facilities. Coast’s argument is refuted in the very case before us. As described above, on July 19, 2016, after Olympic Forest filed its complaint in this case, Coast wrote a letter to Washington’s Department of Ecology (“Ecology”), asking whether its oyster hatchery was required to obtain an NPDES permit. Three years earlier, based on the Rensel Report, Ecology had concluded that Coast’s hatchery did not need an NPDES permit. On July 29, Ecology responded to Coast’s letter, stating that a permit was not required and giving two reasons. First, Coast’s hatchery did not satisfy the criteria of