Federal officials are asking the public to weigh in on new regulations for confined-animal feeding operations that discharge fluids and waste into Idaho surface waters.

The draft National Pollutant Discharge Elim-ination System general permit would be available to all Idaho CAFOs, using the federal definition of such facilities, and would replace a previous version that expired in 2002. Officials with the U.S. Environ-mental Protection Agency told the media Monday that they will accept comments on the proposed permit through Jan. 19. Public meetings are also planned, including one near Jerome.

CAFOs have been a national priority for the EPA for several years, said Jim Werntz, director of the EPA’s Idaho Operations Office, and Nick Peak, the agency’s regional CAFO coordinator based in Boise.

The draft permit, intended to certify that a facility’s discharges will not violate the Clean Water Act, includes changes driven by a 2005 court decision that prompted a new EPA nationwide CAFO rule finalized last year.

Among the revisions, it only requires CAFOs that discharge to apply for permits. Applicants also have to submit plans for dealing with animal waste to the EPA. Those plans will then go out for public review, a marked change from Idaho law, which exempts plans filed under the Idaho OnePlan system from disclosure.

Though the permit changes nothing about how state agencies enforce state laws, it does mark the entrance of the EPA into more areas traditionally handled by Idaho authorities.

“Things that the state has done for years, we’re now seeing codified in the federal framework as well,” Werntz said Monday.

Following the comment period, the final permit won’t be out until at least the summer, Peak said. But the release of the draft permit now gives Idaho’s dairy and cattle operations an idea of what’s ahead.

Bob Naerebout, executive director of the Idaho Dairymen’s Association, said he expects less than half of the state’s dairy owners to apply for the permits, in large part because of the amount of recordkeeping involved.

His organization is examining the proposed draft now and will participate in the formal comment period.

“We would emphasize with the dairymen, those with discharges in the past should take a look at the permit,” Naerebout said.