Revised Compliance Dates Under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit Regulations and Effluent Limitations Guidelines and Standards for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations

This rule extends certain compliance dates in the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permitting requirements and Effluent Limitations Guidelines and Standards (ELGs) for concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) while EPA works to complete rulemaking to respond to the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Waterkeeper Alliance et al. v. EPA, 399 F.3d 486 (2nd Cir. 2005). The sole purpose of this rule is to address timing issues associated with the Agency's response to the Waterkeeper decision. This final rule revises the dates established in the 2003 CAFO rule and later modified by a rule published in the Federal Register on February 10, 2006, by which facilities newly defined as CAFOs are required to seek permit coverage and by which all permitted CAFOs are required to develop and implement their nutrient management plans (NMPs). EPA is extending the date by which operations defined as CAFOs as of April 14, 2003, that were not defined as CAFOs prior to that date, must seek NPDES permit coverage, from July 31, 2007, to February 27, 2009. EPA is also amending the date by which operations that become defined as CAFOs after April 14, 2003, due to operational changes that would not have made them a CAFO prior to April 14, 2003, and that are not new sources, must seek NPDES permit coverage, from July 31, 2007, to February 27, 2009. Finally, EPA is extending the deadline by which permitted CAFOs are required to develop and implement NMPs, from July 31, 2007, to February 27, 2009.