George Schwint Senior Engineer MPCA Feedlot Division

Gov’t Participants in MN Feedlots MPCA - Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Regulatory arm of MN Gov for feedlots (Rule 7020) Provide no technical assistance (design work) MDA – Minnesota Department of Agriculture Provides assistance to producers (non-technical) and promotes ag activities in state BWSR – Board of Water and Soil Resources provides some state cost share funding for projects DNR – Department of Natural Resources Little to no involvement in feedlots (water appropriations) NRCS Provides cost share (EQUIP) and technical assistance

MPCA Structure MPCA leadership is actually a group of eight citizens appointed by the Governor Referred to as the MPCA Citizen’s Board Makes final decisions on certain permits or actions or if requested via petition MPCA also has a commissioner appointed by the Governor Authorizes day to day activities Chairs Citizens Board

What is a CAFO in MN Head Count – Federal CAFO Rule 1000 cattle 2500 swine 700 Dairy Cows Animal Units (AU) – State Rule 1,000 or more AU in any combination 1 steer = 1 AU 1 swine lbs = 0.3 AU 1 Dairy Cow over 1000 lbs = 1.4 AU

How Many CAFO’s 1,093 total CAFO’s 62 Primarily Dairies 67 Primarily Beef 10 Federal CAFO’s but NOT over 1000 AU 786 Primarily Swine 305 Federal CAFO’s but NOT over 1000 AU 168 Primarily Poultry 67 Federal CAFO’s but NOT over 1000 AU 9 Feedlots over 1000 AU but NOT Federal CAFO Combo of Animals not over any one Federal Threshold 1 Horse Facility

General vs Individual NPDES Permit General Permit – 1,049 Facilities (96%) Eligibility Criteria No pollution hazzards No “New Technology” No history of problems No land app of liquid manure in winter In process of reissuance of all Permits Individual Permit – 23 Facilities (2%) Majority have issues that need fixing 2 have large infiltration areas for open lot runoff

Doc’s Required with NPDES Permit App Air Emissions Plan Emergency Response Plan Operation & Maintenance Plan Animal Mortality Plan Manure Management Plan (MMP) Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPP) Stormwater req’s incorporated into feedlot permit Plans and specs Liquid Manure Storage Areas only

Air Emissions Plan Methods to minimize air emissions (BMP’s) Measures to mitigate air emissions in the event of an exceedance of the state ambient H2S standard 50 ppb – no more than 2 times per year 30 ppb - no more than 2 times 5 consecutive days Exemption for manure removal (21 days max) A complaint response protocol List of potential odor sources and which sources most likely to generate significant odors Anticipated odor control strategies

Manure Management Plans Required whenever a permit is issued Keep updated at all times for CAFO’s or facilities over 300 AU not using Commercial Applicator Components for CAFO’s One Year Field & Rate Specific only portion needed for non-CAFO’s Methodology for remaining years of permit term All Fields and Crops scenarios possible Follow all applicable rule requirements Utilize University rec’s and data for rate determination

Nitrogen Rate Management CropYield Previous Crop Crop 2 years ago Max Nitrogen CornAnyCornNo Alfalfa180 CornAnyCornAlfalfa130 CornAnySoybeansNo Alfalfa140 CornAnyAlfalfaAny80 Wheat60 – 69 buCornNo Alfalfa110 Wheat60 – 69 buSoybeansNo Alfalfa90 U of MN changed N Rec’s (for corn only) to not be yield dependent MPCA instituted Max N rate

Soil Phosphorus Management Soil Test Value (ppm) < 22 Bray < 17 Olsen 22 – 75 Bray 17 – 60 Olsen 76 – 150 Bray 61 – 120 Olsen > 150 Bray > 120 Olsen More than 300 ft from water No P Mgmt Requirements Permit Required Less than 300 ft from waters No P Mgmt Requirements No P Buildup over 6 years Permit Required Waters include Lakes, rivers, streams, intermittent streams, protected wetlands, unbermed drainage ditches, and tile intakes when soil P levels are above 75 Bray or above 21 Bray at a CAFO Restrictions do not apply if a 100 ft non-manured vegetative buffer along lakes and streams, or a 50 ft non-manured vegetative buffer along intermittent streams, protected wetlands, and unbermed drainage ditches is maintained

Winter Application of Manure at CAFO’s No liquid winter application unless emergency Winter is after Dec 1 and frozen or snow covered Must identify some emergency fields in the MMP < 4% slope, 3500 gal/acre max & no more than 60 lbs P Solid Manure Application No active snowmelt 2 inches of snow and 40 o F Slope less than 6% MN P Index rating of low (2.0 or less) 50% chance of ¼ inch of rainfall Must identify fields in MMP

MMP’s Incorporated Into NPDES Permits Web notice for 30 days So far very few comments on permits So far process has been going well Create a broad plan to avoid frequent changes to Permit terms on subsequent web notices List all possible fields & crops Follow U of MN rec’s

MMP Development No specific format required Developed a Excel based spreadsheet for public use Meets all rule and permit req’s Includes methodology Can use other formats NRCS software in combo with written methodolgy portions

New/Updated Components of General NPDES Permit No winter application of liquid manure Feed storage area runoff must be contained Basins or infiltration areas Groundwater Monitoring Incorporated Within O&M plan for facility Anaerobic Digestion Incorporated Account for digester in Air Emissions Plan Startup, breakdowns, by-passes

Environmental Review Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW) Mandatory for expansions of 1,000 AU or more within a 3 year period in the same geographic area Mandatory threshold at 500 AU in sensitive areas Shoreland, Floodplain, DWSMA, Karst Features Exemption for facilities with less than 1,000 AU hold a public meeting prior to permit application not in a sensitive areas

Recent Misc. Items of Interest HDPE lined Basin Bubbles Includes those vented Revocation and Reissuance of a Permit and later Denial of Permit Reissuance History of noncompliance H2S violations Public health hazard Bad Actor Statute