Animal-Waste Storage Plan to Be Required

The Clinton administration plans to announce this week a move to crack down on a major source of pollution in rivers and streams by requiring the nation’s largest livestock farms to develop plans to store animal waste as a condition of remaining in business, administration officials said.

The long-awaited “national strategy” for managing livestock waste will call for tougher oversight of an increasing number of factory-like animal feedlots, from Eastern Maryland’s poultry farms to warehouse-size hog barns in North Carolina.

The plan, to be released Thursday, would require the largest facilities to obtain permits to operate and to develop detailed waste-management plans by 2003, according to a draft. Farms that fail to control pollution would face fines and a revocation of their permits.

Tens of thousands of smaller farms would be encouraged to adopt similar guidelines voluntarily by 2008, in many cases with assistance from federal and state agencies.