WATER POLLUTION: EPA TARGETS HOG, POULTRY FACILITIES
Targeting corporate hog and poultry farms, the US EPA last
week proposed more frequent inspections and stepped-up enforcement
efforts under a new policy to "plug holes in the Clean Water
Act."
EPA's Robert Perciasepe said under the new "holistic
approach," regulators would also focus on the fertilizer
use, urban runoff and sewage-treatment operations that contribute
excess nutrients in waterways. The drive to curb nutrient runoff
"has taken on new urgency" since outbreaks in the Mid-Atlantic
of the toxic microorganism Pfiesteria piscicida, which has killed
more than 1 billion fish and forced the closure of several Chesapeake
Bay tributaries (Greenwire, 10/7)
The EPA's new policy will be available for public comment later this month (Bill Lambrecht, St. Louis Post Dispatch, 10/12).