State agency ignored court decision, now seeks to ease chicken farm rules, critics say

Criticized by a court over its failure to enforce pollution rules for chicken farms, the state Department of Health and Environmental Control is moving to eliminate the rules rather than begin following them.

That’s the assessment of environmentalists who say DHEC’s stance could lead to more contamination in rivers already tainted by runoff pollution from large animal farms.

The Southern Environmental Law Center, which represents eight environmental groups in South Carolina, says a DHEC plan to get rid of key pollution rules for big poultry farms should be reconsidered.

In a May 25 ruling, the S.C. Court of Appeals took DHEC to task for not requiring proposed poultry farms in Laurens County to obtain water pollution permits that are required by South Carolina law.

The court ruling would have sweeping impacts on the chicken industry if large poultry operations, like the ones in Laurens County, must get those types of permits.

“Apparently DHEC’s response to this decision was not to begin enforcing South Carolina law and protecting South Carolina residents and waterways, but to strip South Carolina’s (chicken farm) regulations of additional safeguards,’’ according to an Aug. 22 letter to DHEC by law center attorney Emily Wyche. She noted in the letter that DHEC’s action failed “to address the threat that excessive, improper, and poorly regulated’’ runoff from chicken farms poses to rivers.

For years, DHEC has not required large poultry farms to obtain the water pollution permits — commonly called NPDES permits.

The agency says it has other, tighter rules to protect rivers and creeks from contaminated agricultural runoff, and the permit requirements aren’t needed.

Federal rules that once required the water permits were struck down by a federal court about 16 years ago. DHEC says that means South Carolina should change state regulations to mirror the federal standard. A recent public notice indicated DHEC’s intent to get rid of some of the rules. More details of the plan are forthcoming.

But Wyche and environmental lawyer Bob Guild said nothing requires the state to weaken state standards just because federal rules have been rolled back.

The state Court of Appeals “confirmed that South Carolina’s laws and regulations provide a higher level of protection for South Carolina waterways than federal law and found that DHEC was failing to enforce those higher standards — to the detriment of water quality in our state,’’ Wyche’s letter said.

It’s not known how many chicken and turkey farms have been approved without the state NPDES water discharge permits, but the number could be substantial. Overall, South Carolina has about 770 chicken and turkey farms.

Many poultry farms are clustered in counties in the central and western parts of the state. Chicken farms produce about 250 million birds each year for meat, federal statistics show. The state poultry industry, which ranks 13th nationally in broiler chicken production, is one of South Carolina’s largest industries, generating about $1.5 billion in sales annually.

DHEC, in response to questions from The State, said South Carolina has rules that prohibit poultry farms from discharging waste. So if farms aren’t discharging anything, they don’t need NPDES water discharge permits, the agency contends.

“DHEC is not reducing any rules for poultry farms,’’ according to a department email that said it will not begin requiring water pollution permits for large poultry farms.

The May Court of Appeals ruling, however, said DHEC can’t assume poultry farms won’t pollute rivers and creeks.

A key environmental threat from poultry farms is contamination that runs off the land and into rivers. Industrial-scale poultry farms pack thousands of birds into low-slung houses. Farmers must periodically clean waste from the houses. The waste is sometimes is piled up outside after cleaning and later spread on farm fields as fertilizer.

In the Laurens County case, the law required DHEC to either require a discharge permit because of the threat, or have the farmers show they would not have discharges, the appeals court decision said. The agency did neither, the Court of Appeals court ruled in overturning a lower court decision.

It was a mistake to conclude that the Laurens farmers “were not required to apply for an NPDES permit,’’ the court’s ruling said. The Little River in Laurens County already is tainted with bacteria suspected of coming from agriculture.

The S.C. Farm Bureau, which has through the years persuaded legislators to ease poultry farm regulations, said it was not aware that any rules were to be loosened. The Farm Bureau is one of South Carolina’s most powerful interest groups, and its opinions often hold great sway with lawmakers and state regulators. The bureau often opposes tight regulation of farms, arguing that too many rules make it harder to produce food.

“To our knowledge, SC DHEC isn’t recommending a rollback of regulations,’’ bureau spokeswoman Stephanie Sox said in an email. “Our farmers will still have to meet some of the most stringent regulations in the nation.’’

But Guild, a veteran attorney who has handled poultry farm cases for decades, said DHEC should pay attention to the Court of Appeals ruling.

“What we’re trying to do is send a shot across the bow of DHEC and the poultry industry that, basically, they ought to comply with the court’s opinion instead of evading compliance the way this is,’’ Guild said.

Groups represented by the Southern Environmental Law Center include the Sierra Club, the Congaree Riverkeeper, Winyah Rivers Alliance, Audubon South Carolina, South Carolina Wildlife Federation, South Carolina Environmental Law Project, South Carolina Native Plant Society, and the S.C. Coastal Conservation League.

To change the state water pollution permit requirement, DHEC must finish writing the proposal and take the plan to the agency’s board for approval. If the board approves the change, the public will have 30 days to comment and a public hearing will be held, the agency said.