New IDEM Rules Lack Clarity

Josh Tremary

New regulations from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management went into effect this year; but, 6 months later, there are still many unanswered questions. The new regulations dealt with manure management, storage, and transpiration.  The Indiana livestock industry helped write some of the new rules and generally approve of them, but Josh Tremary with Indiana Pork says there is still a lot of confusion, “In some cases these are not requirements, while in other cases they are old requirements that now apply to new groups of producers.” He told HAT that anybody looking to do something new in their operation had better look into the new regulations and have some of the new procedures explained to them.

 

 

Adding to the confusion is the fact that IDEM has not clarified many of the details and, in some cases, not revised the paperwork needed to comply.  According to Trenary, this is making it hard for livestock producers to know what they can and cannot do.  One issue that needs immediate attention is clarification on spreading manure on frozen ground, “There are some things we need clarification on, and we are hoping to see that very soon because this will impact a lot of producers.”

 

Trenary hopes that agency officials will work with producers to clarify some of these gray areas quickly, and he hopes that the transition to a new administration at IDEM will not slow down the process, “No matter who heads the agency, a lot of the staff that we have been working with will remain and we hope we can still continue to make some headway.” If you have questions, your best bet is to contact the agricultural liaison at IDEM, your livestock organization, or the livestock specialist at  Indiana Farm Bureau.

 

[audio:https://www.hoosieragtoday.com//wp-content/uploads//2012/12/IDEMwrap.mp3|titles=New IDEM Rules Lack Clarity]

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