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The Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) is in the final stages of assuming control of the state’s livestock regulatory process from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

More than six years ago, then-Gov. Bob Taft signed a bill into law that transferred some responsibility for overseeing large livestock operations from Ohio EPA to ODA. Under the law, ODA wrote rules that set construction standards for new and existing large livestock and poultry farms and all aspects of manure storage, handling, transportation and land application by these farms, according to ODA.

"Since 2000, ODA has taken over the livestock program, doing inspections, making sure certain criteria were met and that the environment was protected. Now the last piece of the program – the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) – is in the process of being transferred from the Ohio EPA to ODA," said Rocky Black, OFBF’s senior director of policy and political affairs.

At the end of December, Taft signed a bill that modified the issuance of NPDES permits. The purpose was to close any loopholes between Ohio EPA and ODA over livestock regulation, Black said.

U.S. EPA Region 5, which oversees the Ohio EPA, will now review ODA’s application to take over the NDPES permitting process. The Ohio attorney general’s office also is examining the application to ensure that ODA can adequately run the program. Black said Region 5 wasn’t expected to issue an opinion until the middle of this year.

"Region 5 is evaluating whether six years of oversight by ODA of the livestock regulatory process is long enough to sign off on having ODA have authority over the livestock industry, including manure storage and discharge," Black said. "This is the first time that a state Environmental Protection Agency is ceding its authority to a state agriculture department."

For years, Ohio Farm Bureau has been giving input on this process.

"Farm Bureau has been front and center on all parts of the legislation. This is important for farmers," Black said. "State lawmakers have been very supportive of having ODA take over livestock regulation."

Black noted that ODA’s oversight so far has been "very strenuous" and that Ohio has some of the strongest livestock regulations in the nation.

"This would be a win for everyone. It should be looked at as creating a stronger oversight process for the environment and allowing certainty for the livestock industry," he said.