HB-4905, As Passed House, March 11, 2008

HOUSE BILL No. 4905

June 12, 2007, Introduced by Reps. Meekhof, Ball, Agema, Pavlov, Calley, Emmons, Huizenga, Nitz, Hammel, Hammon, Hune, Brown and Mayes and referred to the Committee on Agriculture.

A bill to amend 1982 PA 239, entitled

"An act to license and regulate animal food manufacturing plants,

transfer stations, dead animal dealers, rendering plants, and

certain vehicles; to regulate the disposal of dead animals and to

provide for poultry and livestock composting; to prescribe powers

and duties of certain state departments; to impose fees; to provide

for remedies and to prescribe penalties; and to repeal acts and

parts of acts,"

by amending sections 3, 4, and 15 (MCL 287.653, 287.654, and

287.665), as amended by 2005 PA 66.

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

Sec. 3. (1) "Active composting" means the accelerated

decomposition of organic materials leading primarily to the

production of carbon dioxide, methane, water, heat, and compost.

(2) "Aeration" or "aerate" means the introduction of air into

compost by using porous bulking agents, agitating, turning, mixing,

forcing air through open ended perforated pipes embedded in

compost, or other method provided for by rule.

(3) "Animal" means mollusks, crustaceans, and vertebrates

other than human beings.

(4) "Animal food manufacturing plant" means an establishment

at which animal or pet food is produced through the slaughtering,

boning, grinding, cooking, canning, or freezing of dead animals.

(5) "Batch" means compost accumulated in a planned period of

time.

(6) "Biofilter cap" means a layer of fresh bulking agent

placed over a pile.

(7) "Bulking agent" means a material added to compost to

provide nutrients, decrease bulk density, promote aeration, and

remove heat.

(8) "Compost leachate" means any liquid leaving compost by

running off of the surface of the pile or flowing downward through

the pores of the pile.

(9) "Composting structure" means a structure designed and

built for the sole purpose of composting organic material and dead

animals.

(10) "Curing" means the period of time after active composting

when further decomposition occurs at a slow rate.

(11) "Dead animals" means restaurant grease and the bodies,

any part of the bodies, or any material produced from the bodies of

animals that have been slaughtered or have died from any other

cause and are not intended for human food. Dead animals do not

include a finished product that has been processed by an approved

method.

(12) "Dead animal dealer" means a person that procures and

transports dead animals to or from a facility licensed under this

act.

(13) "Decharacterize" means a procedure that renders dead

animals unfit for human consumption.

(14) "Denature" means a procedure that imparts a distinctive

color, odor, or taste to dead animals so that the bodies are unfit

for human consumption or cannot be used for animal or pet food

unless properly rendered.

(15) "Department" means the department of agriculture.

(16) "Director" means the director of the department of

agriculture or his or her authorized representative.

(17) "Effluent" means any liquid leaving compost by running

off the surface of the pile and flowing downward through the pores

of the pile.

(18) "Facility" means any of the following:

(a) An animal food manufacturing plant.

(b) A rendering plant.

(19) "Fresh" means bulking agents of plant origin that have

not been mixed with any animal tissue, product, or excrement and

have limited odor-producing potential.

Sec. 4. (1) "Grinding" means the mechanical reduction of

intact or whole animal tissues into smaller pieces.

(2) "Groundwater" means that term as defined in section 8303

of the natural resources and environmental protection act, 1994 PA

451, MCL 324.8303.

(3) "Methane digester" means a system designed to facilitate

the production of methane from anaerobic microbial digestion of

animal or food waste, including dead animals.

(4) ~~(3)~~ "Normal natural daily mortality" means dead animals

generated as a result of the ordinary death loss or tissue by-

product accumulations associated with or as a result of the day-to-

day operations of raising, keeping, and harvesting animals.

(5) ~~(4)~~ "Person" means an individual, partnership,

corporation, limited liability company, cooperative, association,

joint venture, or other legal entity or 2 or more entities in

contractual relationships.

(6) ~~(5)~~ "Pile" means the mass or mound of compost within the

forms of an open-pile, contained-pile within bin, or open-windrow.

(7) ~~(6)~~ "Rendering plant" means an establishment for the

reduction by cooking or processing of dead animals to tallow and

meat scrap, cracklings, or other items unfit for human consumption.

(8) ~~(7)~~ "Restaurant grease dealer" means a person who procures

and transports cooking grease wastes from a restaurant.

(9) ~~(8)~~ "Static" means a compost pile that is left to stand

motionless or idle and does not include a rotating drum in-vessel

compost digester.

(10) ~~(9)~~ "Transfer station" means an establishment for the

collection of dead animals that are to be transported to a facility

licensed either under this act or the Michigan commercial feed law,

1975 PA 120, MCL 287.521 to 287.535.

Sec. 15. The department shall promulgate rules pursuant to the

administrative procedures act of 1969, 1969 PA 306, MCL 24.201 to

24.328, regarding the following:

(a) The construction and operation of a facility licensed

under this act.

(b) Vehicles used for the transportation of dead animals.

limited to, methodology regarding passively aerated static piles,

mechanically or forced aerated static piles, windrow piles, ~~and~~

contained or in-vessel systems, and methane digesters.

(d) Conditions for active composting to include, but not be

limited to, recommended conditions regarding moisture content,

carbon-to-nitrogen ratio, bulking agent particle size, animal

tissue density, composting density, temperature ranges, and pH

ranges.

(e) Parameters regarding grinding, including, but not limited

to, pile form and shape, pile slumping, and the presence of large

intact bones after composting.

(f) Methods for effluent containment and prevention of its

movement into groundwater and surface water.

(g) The accommodation of normal natural daily mortality and

system capacity for accommodation of both active composting and

curing.

(h) Control of odor and pest or vermin infestation of piles

with biofilter caps or as otherwise provided by rule.

(i) The generation of adequate records involving composting.