Do "industrial" farms with large numbers of animals that do not go to pasture qualify for agricultural exemption to the Clean Water Act? Concerned Area Citizens for the Environment v. Southview Farm, 34 F.3d 114 (2nd Cir. 1994) A large dairy farm in Castile, New York with a total of over 2,200 animals ran an industrial-style operation in which the animals did not go out to pasture. The farm used a series of four acre manure ponds to store liquid cow manure. Each pond had a storage capacity of six to eight million gallons of liquid manure. The liquid manure is piped through a hose to fertilize surrounding farm fields. A citizen group sued the farm, presenting evidence that the liquid manure sprayed onto the field tended to run off into nearby ditches. These ditches subsequently flowed onto state park property and into the Genesee River. Plaintiffs alleged that the farm was "concentrated animal feeding operation" (CAFO). As such it was a point source for pollution, and the outflow from its fields constituted a violation of the Clean Water Act (CWA). Southview argued that it was not a CAFO, in that agricultural operations were undertaken on the properties. Southview also argued that because of their mixture with rainwater, the liquid manure was too diffuse to constitute a point source discharge. Finally, Southfield argued that the pollutants were not "collected" by human activity but were "spread out" over the ground instead through the use of the hose. The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals rejected all three of these arguments, reversing the trial court judgment as a matter of law and reinstating a jury verdict in favor of the plaintiffs. The court held that all discharges eventually mix with rainwater, so that the question of diffusion was not dispositive. The court also held that the collection of the liquid manure in ponds, and its concentration in the pipes and hoses used to spread it on the fields constituted collection. Finally, the court found that Southview was a concentrated agricultural feed lot, and as such was liable for its discharges as a point source under the Clean Water Act.
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