Clean Water Advocacy - Newsroom - AMSA in the News
No. 22
Friday, February 1, 2002 Page A-1
ISSN 1521-9402
News
Water Pollution
Effluent Limitation Guidelines Proposed By EPA for Large Meat, Poultry
Processors
Large meat and poultry processing facilities would have to meet requirements
to control discharges of solids, oil and grease, conventional pollutants, and
nutrients under a proposed effluent limitation guideline signed by the
Environmental Protection Agency Jan. 30.
Effluent guidelines already exist for nine subcategories of the meat and poultry
products processing industry, EPA said in a fact sheet. Four subcategories
involve operations that slaughter animals and do some rendering and other meat
processing. Another five subcategories apply to "further processing of meat,"
such as making sausages, hams, or cuts, EPA said. Also covered under existing
regulations are independent rendering facilities.
The proposed rule signed Jan. 30 would cover large meat processing facilities
and independent rendering operations as well as poultry slaughtering and
processing, EPA said. The new requirements would apply to meat processing
facilities that produce 50 million pounds of meat product annually. Less
stringent requirements would cover poultry processors that slaughter 10 million
pounds per year or less or that process up to 7 million pounds annually.
The proposed requirements would be based on biological treatment such as
nitrification and denitrification to remove nutrients, EPA said. The subcategory
for independent renderers would have to meet more strict requirements for
ammonia than what are in the current regulation, the fact sheet said. The
ammonia limits would be based on the improved performance of existing treatment
technologies, the agency said.
No pretreatment standards are being proposed because EPA said waste water
treatment facilities are able to handle the pollutants discharged to them from
meat processing facilities. Officials with the Association of Metropolitan
Sewerage Agencies said in November 2001 that the meat packing rule was not
needed because waste water treatment facilities were able to treat those types
of discharges (215 DEN A-8, 11/8/01). However, an official with EPA's Region V
office in Chicago said the agency has heard from numerous small treatment plants
that they have problems treating discharges from meat packers.
The proposed regulation is expected to reduce nutrient discharges by 53.9
million pounds per year and conventional pollutants by 32.7 million pounds per
year, EPA said. About 250 facilities would be affected by the proposal, the fact
sheet said.
Comments will be accepted for 60 days after the proposal is published in the
Federal Register, which will probably be in a few weeks.