• Review ATCP 51 standards and other requirements at least every 4 years, in consultation with a committee of experts.
• Evaluate whether existing or proposed standards are: (1) protective of public health or safety; (2) practical and workable; (3) cost-effective; (4) objective; (5) based on scientific information; (6) designed to promote the growth and viability of animal agriculture; (7) designed to balance the economic viability of farm operations with natural resource protection and other community interests; and (8) usable by local officials.
• Develop and update application materials and other submissions that livestock operators must provide when applying for local approval, to show that a new or expanding livestock facility will comply with the standards adopted by the Department.
• Specify the information that a local government must include in its decision making record. A local decision must include findings of fact, and must be based on information in the record. This record will be important if an aggrieved party appeals the local government’s decision.
Related Statutes and Rules
Plain Language Analysis
General Background
This rule:
• Updates the water quality standards, including related Natural Resources Conservation Service (“NRCS”) technical standards, to ensure consistency with provisions in NR 151 and ATCP 50, including incorporation of the 2015 NRCS standard for nutrient management, and the 2016 NRCS standards for waste treatment and vegetated treatment areas.
• Modifies standards (subch. II of ATCP 51) consistent with the requirements in Wis. Stat. § 93.90(2), based on the technical recommendations of the 2014 Technical Expert Committee and stakeholder input. Key changes include modifications to setback and odor standards. • Modifies the procedures (subchs. I and III of ATCP 51) that local governments must follow in issuing a siting permit under a zoning or licensing ordinance including those used to determine completeness of siting applications, modifications to siting permits, the use of checklists to monitor facility compliance, and the fees local governments charge for permit modifications.
• Modifies local permit application forms and worksheets to reflect changes in requirements and to ensure that they are clear, complete, and elicit information that documents compliance with applicable siting standards.
• Makes other changes, clarifications and updates as necessary to improve implementation of the siting rule, consistent with the requirements in Wis. Stat. § 93.90(2). Contents of this Rule
The following is an analysis of the rule by topics.
Livestock Facilities, Structures, and other Definitions
This rule clarifies that a livestock facility includes the livestock, livestock structures, and parcels on land upon which livestock facility is located, except for pastures and winter grazing areas. It excludes a concentration of 50 or fewer calf hutches from the definition of an animal lot.
Concentrations of 50 or more hutches must meet setback and runoff management standards. Storage structures designed exclusively for process wastewater are excluded from the design and setback requirements that apply to manure storage structures.
This rule eliminates definitions related to the prior odor standard, including affected neighbor, and high use building.
The definition of related facilities is expanded to cover process wastewater storage and transfer by using or sharing the same structures, and same field for land application.
To achieve consistency with the nonpoint rules (ATCP 50 and NR 151), this rule adds or adjusts definitions of key terms such as manure, pasture, process wastewater, significant discharge, and waste transfer system.
Ordinances and Permits Filed with the Department
This rule will require local governments to electronically submit new or revised ordinances or permits to the Department whenever it incorporates standards from this rule in a local ordinance, enacts more stringent local ordinance standards, or takes official action on a permit application.
Duration of Local Approval
A livestock operator must begin constructing all of the new or expanded livestock housing or waste storage structures within 2 years after the local approval is granted, except where the construction of a proposed structure is required to control discharge, in which the construction must be completed within 6 months of a permit approval.
Application for Local Approval
To obtain local approval, an operator must complete the application form and worksheets that are made part of this rule. The application materials have been modified to incorporate the changes described in this rule summary.
Key changes to the application materials include:
• On the site map, the applicant must assign unique identifiers to show all existing and proposed livestock structures, and use these unique identifiers when referencing livestock structures in the application worksheets.
• Odor Management Plans will be retooled and the application will contain new criteria for developing acceptable plans.
• The applicant’s acknowledgement of other laws will be removed from the application.
Odor management standard (worksheet 2) will be modified to reflect the new system for managing odor.
• Waste and nutrient management (worksheet 3) will change to reflect the method for estimating the amount of manure generated from a facility to better correspond with nutrient management planning, will add cropland performance standards, and eliminate the nutrient management planning exemption for operations under 500 Animal Units (“AU’s”).
• Waste storage facilities (worksheet 4) will change requirements regarding closure of manure storage structures.
• Runoff management (worksheet 5) will be revised to reflect changes in managing runoff related to animal lots, feed storage, and milking center wastewater.
State Standards
This rule clarifies that a local government may not grant a variance to exempt a livestock facility from complying with the state standards, except that it may reduce setback requirements.
Property Line and Road Setbacks
This rule retains property line and road setback requirements for livestock structures, except manure storage and certain types of housing.
This rule:
• Establishes minimum property line setbacks for manure storage structures based on the size of the livestock facility.
• Establishes minimum property line setbacks for certain types of livestock housing based on the size of the livestock facility.
If a livestock facility is organized in one or more clusters, the livestock facility may follow the setback requirements based on the AU’s in each cluster. This option is not available if manure is comingled among clusters.
This rule retains provisions that allow expansion of manure storage and housing structures within setback areas, as long as the expansion is away from the property line or public road right-of-way to which the local setback applies. In addition, as noted below, this rule allows operators to reduce setbacks for new and expanding manure storage and certain types of housing structures through the installation and maintenance of odor control practices.
Odor Management; Livestock Structures
This rule provides for the phase out of the odor standard, originally adopted in 2006. In its place, this rule adopts a system of setbacks for high odor sources (manure storage and certain types of housing). Under the new system, operators will not be required to address odor from low odor sources such as animal lots. The new system continues to use odor control practices originally developed for the 2006 odor standard.
For livestock operations issued a permit prior to the effective date of this rule revision, they must continue to meet the requirements of the odor standard in their permits. They are released from these requirements if they are granted a new local approval. However, they need to develop an odor management plan if they have existing manure storage located within 600 feet of the facility’s property line or livestock housing located within 400 feet of the facility’s property line. Livestock facilities seeking local approval for the first time after adoption of this rule revision will not need to complete an odor management plan for existing manure storage and livestock housing, unless these structures are located within the separation distances discussed above.
For new and expanding manure storage structures and certain types of livestock housing, the new odor standard provides operators credit for odor control practices in the form of reductions to setback requirements. Livestock operators may use these reductions to allow construction within the new setback areas. Worksheet 2 has been modified to enable operators to document odor control practices and calculate the reduced setbacks based on installation and maintenance of these practices. Worksheet 2 includes revised specifications for the odor control practices that the operator must meet to claim a credit.
Waste and Nutrient Management
To achieve maximum consistency with nonpoint rules, this rule will require operators to have and follow a nutrient management plan that complies with ATCP 50. The 2015 NRCS 590 Standard is now the basis for nutrient management plans. In addition, this rule adds requirements that livestock operators comply with NR 151 cropland performance standards related to soil erosion, a tillage setback, and the phosphorus index.
Regarding nutrient management plans, this rule clarifies that a plan must account for all land applications of manure and related waste generated by the maximum number of animal units authorized by a permit or other local approval. For the purposes of determining waste generation, this rule and related Worksheet 3 now use the Wisconsin Conservation Planning Technical Note WI-1 (February, 2016) to estimate quantities of manure.
Worksheet 3 will require that operators attach map(s) showing the land where waste will be applied and any restrictions limiting the application of waste to that land. Additional documentation may be required by the local government to verify that rental land is available.
A new nutrient management checklist is incorporated to document compliance with the 2015 NRCS 590 Standard.
