The TMDL is a result of a Presidential Executive Order established in May 2009 and a settlement agreement between environmental groups and EPA signed on 10 May 2010. Although the executive order established May 2011 to finalise and publish the TMDL, EPA has set an internal deadline of 31 December 2010 to complete the process. This accelerated schedule provided only 45 days for stakeholders to comment on the most complex TMDL ever established.

Comments were prepared by the Joint Poultry Environmental Committee. The committee is comprised of environmental managers of poultry integrators, state poultry association executives, and allied firms affiliated with the three industry organizations.

John Starkey, President of US Poultry & Egg Association, commented: "A particular concern of the committee is EPA's deviation from established protocols on developing a TMDL, a process that is clearly spelled out within the Clean Water Act. In this process, EPA has adopted a federal 'command and control' approach not included in the law. Furthermore, EPA has developed multiple models that have not been peer reviewed, and the Agency has not provided sufficient time for public participation."

"In spite of EPA's commitment to provide complete documentation for review, much of it is still unavailable," said Paul Bredwell, Vice President of Environmental Programs for USPoultry. "It is unfortunate that EPA has not provided all the documentation we requested so that we can fully understand how the TMDL was developed and how it will affect our members."

USPoultry retained LimnoTech, one of the country's leading water sciences and environmental engineering consulting firms, to assist the Joint Committee in developing the comments.

To view the comments, go to the US Poultry & Egg Association web site [click here].