2019 Oklahoma Statutes
Title 2. Agriculture
§2-20-41. Definitions.

A. Concentrated animal feeding operations are point sources subject to the license program established pursuant to the provisions of the Oklahoma Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations Act.

B. As used in the Oklahoma Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations Act:

1. "Affected property owner" means a surface landowner within one (1) mile of the designated perimeter of an animal feeding operation;

2. "Animal feeding operation" means a lot or facility where the following conditions are met:

a.animals have been, are, or will be stabled or confined and fed or maintained for a total of ninety (90) consecutive days or more in any twelve-month period, and

b.crops, vegetation, forage growth or post-harvest residues are not sustained in the normal growing season over any portion of the lot or facility.

The term "animal feeding operation" shall not include a racetrack licensed by the Oklahoma Horse Racing Commission to hold pari-mutuel race meetings pursuant to the Oklahoma Horse Racing Act if the facility discharges to a publicly owned treatment works, or an aquatic animal production facility;

3. "Animal unit" means a unit of measurement for any animal feeding operation calculated by adding the following numbers: The number of slaughter and feeder cattle multiplied by one (1), plus the number of mature dairy cattle multiplied by one and four-tenths (1.4), plus the number of sheep multiplied by one-tenth (0.1), plus the number of horses multiplied by two (2);

4. "Animal waste" means animal excrement, animal carcasses, feed wastes, process wastewaters or any other waste associated with the confinement of animals from an animal feeding operation;

5. "Animal Waste Management Plan" or "Nutrient Management Plan" means a written plan that includes a combination of conservation and management practices designed to protect the natural resources of the state prepared by an owner or operator of an animal feeding operation as required by the Department pursuant to the provisions of Section 20-48 of this title;

6. "Animal waste management system" means a combination of structures and nonstructural practices serving an animal feeding operation that provides for the collection, treatment, disposal, distribution, storage and land application of animal waste;

7. "Artificially constructed" means constructed by humans;

8. "Best Management Practices" means schedules of activities, prohibitions of practices, maintenance procedures, and other management practices to prevent or reduce the pollution of waters of the state as established by the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry pursuant to Section 20-48 of this title;

9. "Board" means the State Board of Agriculture;

10. "Common ownership" includes but is not limited to any corporation, partnership or individual where the same owner has power or authority to manage, direct, restrict, regulate or oversee the operation or has financial control of the facility;

11. "Concentrated animal feeding operation" means:

a.an animal feeding operation which meets the following criteria:

(1)more than the number of animals specified in any of the following categories are confined:

(a)1,000 slaughter and feeder cattle,

(b)700 mature dairy cattle, whether milk or dry cows,

(c)500 horses,

(d)10,000 sheep or lambs,

(e)55,000 turkeys,

(f)100,000 laying hens or broilers, if the facility has continuous overflow watering,

(g)30,000 laying hens or broilers, if the facility has a liquid manure system,

(h)5,000 ducks, or

(i)1,000 animal units, and

(2)pollutants are discharged into waters of the state.

Provided, no animal feeding operation pursuant to this subparagraph shall be construed to be a concentrated animal feeding operation if the animal feeding operation discharges only in the event of a twenty-five-year, twenty-four-hour storm event, or

b.an animal feeding operation which meets the following criteria:

(1)more than the number of animals specified in any of the following categories are confined:

(a)300 slaughter or feeder cattle,

(b)200 mature dairy cattle, whether milk or dry cows,

(c)150 horses,

(d)3,000 sheep or lambs,

(e)16,500 turkeys,

(f)30,000 laying hens or broilers, if the facility has continuous overflow watering,

(g)9,000 laying hens or broilers, if the facility has a liquid manure system,

(h)1,500 ducks, or

(i)300 animal units, and

(2)either one of the following conditions are met:

(a)pollutants are discharged into waters of the state through an artificially constructed ditch, flushing system or other similar artificially constructed device, or

(b)pollutants are discharged directly into navigable waters which originate outside of and pass over, across or through the facility or otherwise come into direct contact with the animals confined in the operation.

Provided, however, that no animal feeding operation pursuant to this subparagraph is a concentrated animal feeding operation if the animal feeding operation discharges only in the event of a twenty-five-year, twenty-four-hour storm event, or

c.the Board determines that the operation is a significant contributor of pollution to waters of the state pursuant to Section 20-44 of this title;

12. "Department" means the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry;

13. "Designated perimeter" means the perimeter of any structure or combination of structures utilized to control animal waste until it can be disposed of in an authorized manner. The structures shall include but not be limited to pits, burial sites, barns or roof-covered structures housing animals, composters, waste storage sites, or retention structures or appurtenances or additions thereto;

14. "Facility" means any place, site or location or part thereof where animals are kept, handled, housed, or otherwise maintained and processed and includes but is not limited to buildings, lots, pens, and animal waste management systems;

15. "Interested party" means an affected property owner found to meet the burden of proof pursuant to the provisions of Section 20-46 of this title;

16. "Land application" means the spreading on, or incorporation of, animal waste into the soil mantle primarily for beneficial purposes;

17. "Liquid animal waste management system" means any animal waste management system which uses water as the primary carrier of the waste into a primary retention structure;

18. "Nutrient-limited watershed" means a watershed of a water body which is designated as "nutrient-limited" in the most recent Oklahoma Water Quality Standards;

19. "Nutrient-vulnerable groundwater" means groundwater which is designated "nutrient-vulnerable" in the most recent Oklahoma Water Quality Standards;

20. "Occupied residence" means a habitable structure designed and constructed for full-time occupancy in all weather conditions which:

a.is not readily mobile,

b.is connected to a public or permanent source of electricity and a permanent waste disposal system or public waste disposal system, and

c.is occupied as a residence;

21. "Pollution Prevention Plan" means a written plan to control the discharge of pollutants which has been prepared in accordance with industry-acceptable engineering and management practices by the owner or operator of an animal feeding operation as required pursuant to Section 20-47 of this title;

22. "Process wastewater" means any water utilized in the facility that comes into contact with any manure, litter, bedding, raw, intermediate, or final material or product used in or resulting from the production of animals and any products directly or indirectly used in the operation of a facility, such as spillage or overflow from animal watering systems; washing, cleaning, or flushing pens, barns, manure pits, direct contact, swimming, washing or spray cooling of animals; and dust control and any precipitation which comes into contact with animals or animal waste;

23. "Retention structures" includes but is not limited to all collection ditches, conduits and swales for the collection of runoff water and process wastewater, and basins, ponds and lagoons or other structures used to store animal wastes;

24. "Waste facility" means any structure or combination of structures utilized to control animal waste until it can be disposed of in an authorized manner. The structures shall include but not be limited to pits, burial sites, barns or roof-covered structures housing animals, composters, waste storage sites, or retention structures or appurtenances or additions thereto; and

25. "Waters of the state" means all streams, lakes, ponds, marshes, watercourses, waterways, wells, springs, irrigation systems, drainage systems, storm sewers and all other bodies or accumulations of water, surface and underground, natural or artificial, public or private, which are contained within, flow through or border upon this state or any portion thereof, and shall include under all circumstances the waters of the United States which are contained within the boundaries of, flow through or border upon this state or any portion thereof. Provided, waste treatment systems, including treatment ponds and lagoons, designed to meet federal and state requirements other than cooling ponds as defined in the Clean Water Act or rules promulgated pursuant thereto are not waters of the state.

Added by Laws 2007, c. 31, § 29, eff. Nov. 1, 2007. Amended by Laws 2015, c. 126, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 2015.