State Innovation Grant Program: Minnesota
Environmental Results Program Applied to Feedlots (2005 Competition)
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efforts led by state environmental agencies to test innovative approaches
for achieving better environmental results and improved efficiency in
permitting programs. Between 2002 and 2007, the State Innovation Grant
program competition awarded over six million dollars to support 35 state
projects that test permitting innovation for a variety of regulated entities
including several small business sectors. Asummary of the awards by year
appears in the table below.
State Innovation Grant Program Statistics, 2002-2007
Competition Proposals Proposals Total Program
Year Submitted Selected Funding ($)
2002/2003
$618,000
$1.425 Million
$1.479 Million
Cumulative
$1.243 Million
$1.611 Million
$6.376 Million
"Innovation in Permitting" has been the theme of the State Innovation Grant
competition since its inception. In the last three competition cycles states
received awards for projects in the following three categories:
The Environmental Results Program (ERP) is an innovative
approach to improving environmental performance based on a system
of the interlocking tools of compliance assistance, self-certification
(sometimes, where permissible, in lieu of permitting), and
statistically-based measurement to gauge the performance of an entire
business sector. The program utilizes a multimedia approach to
encourage small sources to achieve environmental compliance and
pollution prevention. (See: http://www.epa.gov/permits/erp/)
Environmental Management System (EMS) is a system involving a
continual cycle of planning, implementing, reviewing and improving the
processes and actions that an organization undertakes to meet its
business and environmental goals. EMSs provide organizations of all
types with a structured system and approach for managing
environmental and regulatory responsibilities to improve overall
environmental performance and stewardship.
(See: www.epa.gov/ems/info/index.htm)
Performance Track is a partnership that recognizes top
environmental performance among participating US facilities of all types,
sizes, and complexity, both public and private.
(See: http://www.epa.gov/performancetrack/)
NCEI has provided awards also for projects testing watershed-based
permitting, and for permit process streamlining in past competitions. For
more information on the history of the programs, including information on
solicitations, state proposals, and project awards, please see the EPA State
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Project Background:
In Minnesota, the state dairy association offers third-
party environmental compliance assessments and
assistance supplied by their technicians through an
Environmental Quality Assurance (EQA) program.
The EQA program is built on the experience of
swine, poultry, and egg producer associations in
several states that have achieved environmental
benefits through innovative quality or management
system driven initiatives. The Minnesota Pollution
Control Agency (MPCA) seeks to foster additional
improvements in environmental performance at these
small facilities by implementing an Environmental
Results Program (ERP) self-assessment model with
dairies, and eventually other animal feedlot
operations, around the state. With EPA State
Innovation Grant funding, MPCA is adapting other
states' ERP experiences, plus lessons learned from
the EQA program, creating a pilot program for
feedlots.
Project Description
Minnesota's State Innovation Grant pilot program will
test and implement a voluntary ERP approach for
smaller dairies that operate below the concentrated
animal feeding operation (CAFO) regulatory
threshold of 700 cows. Through this program, MPCA
aims to achieve more rapid improvements in
environmental performance and compliance than
might be possible through conventional inspections.
To help address pollution from agricultural runoff
(phosphorus, nitrogen, biological oxygen demand,
and disease-causing pathogens), MPCA
implemented updated feedlot rules in the year 2000.
These rules included a requirement that owners
register their feedlots and manure storage areas.
Since then, the MPCA has focused its staff on
permitting and inspecting the approximately 1,000
NCEI
NATIONAL CENTER FOR
ENVIRONMENTAL INNOVATION
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larger sites (CAFOs) while county staff have focused
on inspecting the approximately 20,000 smaller
operations that are required to register under the
updated rules. MPCA's ERP pilot project is designed
to address not only the basic water quality protection
and manure application management aspects of
Minnesota's updated feedlot rule, but also septic
systems, wells, pesticides, solid waste, cropping and
other environmental aspects of typical dairy farms, thus
moving toward a multi-media, "whole-farm"
management system.
The self-assessment, self-certification, education,
assistance, and other tools of MPCA's ERP pilot are
designed to help dairies improve environmental
performance and compliance in a more timely way,
and without the typical level of MPCA and county effort.
Collaboration with the dairy producer association,
counties, the Board of Water and Soil Resources, Soil
and Water Conservation Districts and Clean Water
Partnerships have been essential in the development
and implementation of the program. The project's
results will also inform MPCA's decision whether to
extend the pilot to other feedlot sectors and whether to
consider making ERP mandatory for the dairy feedlot
sector.
If Minnesota is successful in applying the ERP
approach to feedlots, this project could serve as a
model to other states also working to improve the
compliance and performance status of smaller feedlots
that operate below the thresholds of federal
regulations.
Likely outcomes from project implementation include:
Faster, broader adoption of best practices -
MPCA expects that participating feedlots will
self-assess environmental performance and
adopt improvement techniques for more areas
of the farmstead and sooner than under a
conventional inspection program.
ERP process in a new sector - dairy feedlot
operations. Although currently limited to a few
counties, if the pilot is successful, MPCA will likely
broaden the use of ERP tools to a larger number of
dairies and other animal feedlot sectors throughout
more counties, and eventually to sectors outside
agriculture.
Quantifiable environmental improvements include:
Self-corrections to ensure compliance
Best Management Practices (BMPs)
Tested soil nutrient levels
Nutrient management plans (both on-farm and at
application sites)
Water conservation
Buffer strips along rivers and streams to keep
pollutants out of the water
Reductions in runoff (particularly runoff reaching
surface water) from lots, manure stockpiles and
manure application sites
The pilot project will span four years. The State
Innovation Grant project period is 1/1/05-9/30/08.
Connection to EPA Goals
This program directly supports EPA's Strategic Goal #2
by promoting water quality protection. It also supports
strategic Goal #5, focused on compliance and
environmental stewardship, as well as EPS's Cross-
Goal Strategy of promoting innovation and
collaboration with states.
Wider application of ERP tools in feedlots and
perhaps other sectors - MPCA is testing the
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Project Contacts:
For more specific information on the
Minnesota State Innovation Grant,
please contact one of the individuals
below:
Kate Brig man
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Regional Division
Mankato.MN 507-389-1775
kate.brigman@pca.state.mn.us
Program Contact:
Sherri Walker
State Innovation Grant Program
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Washington, DC 20460 (MC1807T)
(202)-566-2186; FAX (202) 566-2220
walker.sherri@epa.gov
Al Innes
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Prevention and
Assistance Division
St. Paul, MN 651-296-7330
alister.innes@state.mn.us
Marilou Martin
US EPA. Region 5
Chicago, IL 312-353-9660
martin.marilou@epa.gov
Jennifer Linn
US EPA, National Center for Environmental Innovation
Washington, DC
202-566-1258
linn.jennifer@epa.gov
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of Policy,
Economics and Innovation
(1807T)
April 2008
EPA-100-F-08-037
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