Livestock Permitting Issues

The General Permit for large livestock operations in Michigan will expire on April 1, 2020. The Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE, formerly DEQ) is in the process of developing the new permit for 2020-2025, and has invited MFB staff to participate in stakeholder meetings to provide input on permit requirements. Farmers and consultants have raised several concerns:

• The ability to spread manure in the winter, even under emergency circumstances, may be removed for permitted livestock farms (and if momentum for this action builds, legislation similar to Ohio’s that bans winter nutrient application for all farms, large and small, could be introduced).
• EGLE could respond to pressure by environmental groups to remove the ability to manifest – to transfer manure to another farm for land application at agronomic rates – and replace it with a requirement that permitted livestock farms report all manure application under their Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plan. These plans require field-by-field reporting of application rates, crops planted, yield goals, runoff risk analysis, and other information livestock farms may not have for farms to which they manifest manure.
• There could be an increase in permitting requirements for groundwater discharge, which currently applies to very large permitted livestock farms of more than 5,000 animal units, but which could be tightened or include smaller farms under a new permit system.

Contact: Laura Campbell | 517-679-5332