2014 Oklahoma Statutes
Title 2. Agriculture
§2-20-6. Licensure – Modification – Designation of operations.

A. 1. Any swine feeding operation meeting the criteria defining a concentrated swine feeding operation shall be required to obtain a license to operate pursuant to the Oklahoma Swine Feeding Operations Act and rules promulgated pursuant thereto.

2. No swine feeding operation which voluntarily obtains a license pursuant to the Oklahoma Swine Feeding Operations Act shall be considered to be a concentrated swine feeding operation unless the operation meets the definition of concentrated swine feeding operation.

3. Any new swine feeding operation established after November 1, 2011, with more than one hundred animal units shall be required to be licensed pursuant to the provisions of the Oklahoma Swine Feeding Operations Act and the rules promulgated pursuant to that act.

4. Any other swine feeding operation, regardless of the number of swine, shall only be required to be licensed pursuant to the provisions of the Oklahoma Swine Feeding Operations Act and rules promulgated pursuant thereto if the State Board of Agriculture determines the operation to be a significant contributor of pollution to waters of the state.

B. 1. Two or more swine feeding operations under common ownership are considered, for the purposes of licensure, to be a single swine feeding operation if they adjoin each other or if they use a common area or system for the disposal of wastes.

2. A licensed managed feeding operation shall be required to seek a modification of its license for any increase in excess of five percent (5%) of the original facility's licensed capacity.

C. An expanding operation shall be required to seek a modification of its license prior to expansion.

D. 1. The Board may make a case-by-case designation of concentrated swine feeding operations pursuant to this section. Any swine feeding operation may be designated as a concentrated swine feeding operation if it is determined to be a significant contributor of pollution to the waters of the state. In making this designation, the Board shall consider the following factors:

a.the size of the swine feeding operation and the amount of wastes reaching waters of the state,

b.the location of the swine feeding operation relative to waters of the state,

c.the means of conveyance of swine waste and wastewater into waters of the state,

d.the method of disposal for swine waste and process wastewater disposal,

e.the slope, vegetation, rainfall and other factors affecting the likelihood or frequency of discharge of swine wastes and process wastewaters into waters of the state, and

f.other factors relative to the significance of the pollution problem sought to be regulated.

2. In no case shall an application for a license be required from a swine feeding operation pursuant to this subsection until there has been an on-site inspection of the operation and a determination by the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry that the operation is a concentrated swine feeding operation. Should the Department determine that the operation is a concentrated swine feeding operation, the Department shall notify the operation of the determination and of an opportunity for the owner or operator of the facility to request an administrative hearing on the issue.

3. Process wastewater in the overflow may be discharged to navigable waters whenever rainfall events, either chronic or catastrophic, cause an overflow of process wastewater from a retention structure properly designed, constructed and operated to contain all process wastewaters plus the runoff from a twenty-five-year, twenty-four-hour rainfall event for the location of the point source. There shall be no effluent limitations on discharges from a waste facility constructed and properly maintained to contain the twenty-five-year, twenty-four-hour storm event; provided, the proper design, construction and operation of the retention structure shall include but not be limited to one (1) foot of free board.

E. No new concentrated swine feeding operation or expansion of a concentrated swine feeding operation requiring a license pursuant to the Oklahoma Swine Feeding Operations Act shall be constructed or placed in operation unless final design plans, specifications and a Pollution Prevention Plan developed pursuant to Section 20-9 of this title have been approved by the Department.

F. No new licensed managed feeding operation or expanding operation shall be constructed until a building permit for such facility or expansion has been issued by the Department. No new licensed managed feeding operation or expanding operation shall be placed in operation until a license for the facility or a modification for an existing license has been issued by the Department.

G. When requesting a modification of a license, a licensed managed feeding operation shall comply with all notice and hearing requirements as specified by this section and rules promulgated by the State Board of Agriculture. In its request for a modification of a license, a licensed managed feeding operation shall provide all information specified in subsection G of Section 20-7 of this title.

H. Any hearings regarding modification of a license shall focus on the modifications being proposed by the licensed managed feeding operation.

I. A decision to deny modification of a license shall have no impact on the original license.

Added by Laws 1997, c. 331, § 5, eff. Sept. 1, 1997. Amended by Laws 1998, c. 404, § 5, eff. Aug. 1, 1998. Renumbered from § 9-204.1 of this title by Laws 2005, c. 292, § 25, eff. July 1, 2005. Amended by Laws 2007, c. 64, § 1, eff. Dec. 1, 2007; Laws 2008, c. 3, § 1, emerg. eff. Feb. 28, 2008; Laws 2011, c. 215, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 2011.

NOTE: Laws 2007, c. 31, § 6 repealed by Laws 2008, c. 3, § 2, emerg. eff. Feb. 28, 2008.