A federal court on Monday rejected efforts by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to dismiss a case brought by West Virginia poultry farmer Louis Alt, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF). Alt had challenged a November 2011 EPA order demanding that she obtain a Clean Water Act discharge permit for ordinary stormwater runoff from her farm. Despite EPA’s recent withdrawal of the Alt order, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia ruled that the case should go forward to clarify for the benefit of Alt and other farmers whether, as EPA contends, discharge permits are required for “ordinary precipitation runoff from a typical farmyard.”
Alt filed suit against EPA in June 2012 after the agency threatened her with $37,500 in fines each time stormwater came into contact with dust, feathers, or small amounts of manure on the ground outside of her poultry houses as a result of normal farm operations. EPA also threatened separate fines of $37,500 per day if Alt failed to apply for a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit for such stormwarter discharges. Alt responded with a lawsuit challenging the EPA order. The American Farm Bureau Federation and the West Virginia Farm Bureau intervened as co-plaintiffs with Alt to help resolve the issue for the benefit of other poultry and livestock farmers.
EPA withdrew its order in December 2012, about six weeks before briefing on the legal issues were set to begin. In opposing EPA’s motion to dismiss, Alt and the Farm Bureau argued that farmers remain vulnerable to similar EPA orders, because the agency stands by its contention that the Clean Water Act statutory exemption for “agricultural stormwater” does not apply to stormwater from the farmyard at a concentrated animal feeding operation.
The court agreed with Alt and the Farm Bureau, noting that this “Court’s ultimate decision on the merits will benefit all parties, including EPA and many thousands of farmers, by clarifying the extent of federal Clean Water Act discharge liability and permit requirements for ordinary precipitation runoff from a typical farmyard.” The court also ordered briefing on the Alt and Farm Bureau claims to begin by June 1.
“EPA seems to have believed if it withdrew the order against Ms. Alt, the court would dismiss her lawsuit,” said AFBF president Bob Stallman. “The tactic failed because the court recognized EPA wasn’t changing its underlying legal position, but just trying to avoid having to defend that position.”
