Winter has once again descended upon the Great Lakes region. What’s new this season in Michigan is a state ban on spreading manure on frozen fields. When manure is applied under frozen or saturated conditions, it cannot absorb into the soil, increasing the risk that it will wash off and contaminate groundwater.
The ban on winter manure applications is part of a broader win in Michigan for the environment and human health. After a lengthy court battle, regulators have finalized stricter pollution controls for the state’s largest livestock operations. These facilities – Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) – generate volumes of waste far beyond what nearby cropland can safely absorb. Excess nutrient runoff from these operations is polluting drinking water and fueling harmful algal blooms in waters across the Great Lakes.
Other common-sense regulations adopted by Michigan’s state Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) include a ban on “manifesting” or transferring CAFO waste to other parties during winter months, ensuring that manure remains under permit oversight during the highest-risk season and helps prevent unregulated discharges.
EGLE is also pursuing stronger oversight and monitoring. The department will now require additional, site-specific controls for CAFOs located in watersheds that already exceed nutrient or pollution limits. There’s also a clearer definition of who is responsible for waste management at an industrial livestock facility. This ensures that CAFO owners remain accountable even when using separate business entities. EGLE may now require CAFOs to conduct groundwater monitoring to ensure that operations do not pollute drinking water sources while also requiring CAFOs to notify the agency before spreading waste on high-risk fields, allowing for timely inspections and stronger compliance.
All of this is desperately needed.
According to the Environmental Law & Policy Center (ELPC), although “the 290 permitted CAFOs in Michigan represent less than 1% of the 40,000-plus farms in the state, animals on those CAFOs generate 17 million more pounds of fecal waste per day than the state’s entire population of 10 million humans.” ELPC discovered that CAFOs in the state create much more manure than the surrounding cropland can utilize with the excess running off into water supplies.
These reforms reflect years of sustained advocacy to close regulatory gaps that allowed pollution to persist. The Alliance for the Great Lakes worked alongside ELPC and partner organizations to highlight the water quality and public health risks of unmanaged manure applications. By advocating for clearer rules, stronger oversight, and science-based permit standards, the Alliance helped lay the groundwork in Michigan for a regulatory framework that better protects communities, drinking water, and the Great Lakes.