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Ag law expert encourages preparedness for new Michigan CAFO permit rules

An ag law specialist says Michigan farmers should plan for final manure regulations for large livestock operations to go into effect this January.

Brigit Rollins with the National Ag Law Center tells Brownfield the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy’s (EGLE) recent decision to move forward with revisions to the state’s Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) general permit would need another legal intervention to delay enforcement.

“The department wants to go ahead and begin enforcing this permit,” she says. “In fact, they’ve announced that that is their intention.”

She says the 2020 changes make Michigan one of the strictest states to regulate livestock operations across the country.

“That is partially why we’ve seen Farm Bureau and we’ve seen the livestock groups challenge this as vigorously as they have,” she says. “Obviously, Michigan is not the only state up by the Great Lakes. It’s also not the only state that experiences periods of prolonged freezing.”

Farm groups, including the Michigan Farm Bureau, Michigan Milk Producers Association, Michigan Pork Producers Association, Select Milk, Dairy Farmers of America, Foremost Farms, Greenstone Farm Credit Services, and Michigan Allied Poultry Association, and nearly half of all permitted farms in the state, have been challenging the updates since they were first released.

New provisions include prohibiting the spreading of manure during January through part of March, individualized requirements in CAFOs Certificates of Coverage, including groundwater monitoring, and a 24-hour notice of applications.

“It’s been almost six years just to get through the state court system, the state administrative law system,” she explains. “Should this continue on into federal court or continue on in the state of Michigan, I think we could expect potentially an additional few years for this to shake out.”

EGLE denied five requests on the proposed permit from interveners, including barring the application of waste on tile-drained fields.

Michigan Farm Bureau officials say they are disappointed with the decision and determining the next legal steps.