EPA to Assist Livestock Operators; Grant Awarded in NC

[Jeffonc]

I'm on an EPA region 4 mailing list and get these notices when the EPA does things in the SE. I repost the interesting NC ones here.

This one looks good on two fronts: a local company - RTI - is the beneficiary of the grant to work with local livestock farmers to improve water and air quality.

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Subject: EPA to Assist Livestock Operators; Grant Awarded in North
Carolina

For Immediate Release: October 16, 2007
Contact: Contact Information: Davina Marraccini, (404) 562-8293,
marraccini.davina@epa.gov

(ATLANTA – OCTOBER 16, 2007) EPA has awarded two grants totaling $8
million to provide direct technical assistance to livestock operators to
prevent water pollution discharges and reduce air emissions. RTI
International of Research Triangle Park, N.C., will provide assistance
to farm operators in the East and Environmental Resources Coalition
(ERC) of Jefferson City, Mo., in the West.

“The eight Southeastern states produce nearly 20 percent of the
country’s livestock and poultry and, consequently, a lot of waste,” said
EPA Region 4 Administrator Jimmy Palmer. “These grants will help
livestock operators in the Southeast rise to the challenge of better
managing wastes to minimize environmental harm.”

The two organizations will provide livestock operations with two types
of technical assistance at no cost to the operator: (1) comprehensive
assessments of water and air quality environmental challenges and
recommendations for strategies to mitigate these challenges; and (2)
development or review of the facility's nutrient management plan, which
specifies the amount of manure that can be applied to crops so the
potential for runoff to waterbodies is minimized. The technical
assistance will be available to any livestock operation in the United
States beginning the summer of 2008 through October 2011.

Nationally, there are an estimated 1.3 million farms holding livestock
in the United States. Approximately 238,000 of these farms are
considered animal feeding operations. These animal feeding operations
generate more than 500 million tons of animal waste annually and, as a
consequence, continually face the challenge of how best to manage these
wastes to minimize adverse impacts on the environment. The grants will
assist livestock operations by ensuring that farmers are aware of
environmental impacts from their facilities and understand how best to
address them.

More information about animal feeding operations and the grant awards:
www.epa.gov/npdes/afo