Court ruling sets new limits on factory farm permits

WORC reports that the U.S. Court of Appeals struck down a portion of the CAFO (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) rule that required all facilities of a certain size to get a discharge permit under the federal Clean Water Act. Under the ruling, only those CAFOs that are proven polluters will have to get permits. In other words, the permitting requirements will be stronger for facilities that are proven polluters, but many facilities will be exempted from the permitting program.