other animal waste is applied as fertilizer). The standards for BMPs in the 2003 rule vary depending on the regulated area of the CAFO: Production Area: Discharges from a production area must meet a performance standard that requires CAFOs to "maintain waste containment structures that generally prohibit discharges except in the event of overflows or runoff resulting from a 25-year, 24-hour rainfall event." New sources are required to meet a standard of "no discharge" except in the event of a 100-year, 24-hour rainfall event. Land Application Area: The BMPs for land application areas include different requirements, such as vegetative buffer strips and setback limits from water bodies. The 2003 rule also requires CAFOs to submit an annual performance report to the EPA and to develop and implement a comprehensive nutrient management plan (NMP) for handling animal waste. Lastly, in an attempt to broaden the scope of regulated facilities, the 2003 rule expanded the number of CAFOs required to apply for NPDES permits by making it mandatory for all CAFOs (not just those who actually discharge pollutants into waters of the United States). Many of the provisions of the rule were affected by the Second Circuit's decision issued in Waterkeeper Alliance v. EPA. Waterkeeper Alliance v. EPA (2nd Cir. 2005) Environmental and farm industry groups challenged the 2003 final rule in court, and the Second Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision in the consolidated case Waterkeeper Alliance, Inc. v. EPA, 399 F.3d 486 (2nd Cir. 2005). The Second Circuit's decision reflected a "partial victory" for both environmentalists and industry, as all parties were "unsatisfied to at least some extent" with the court's decision. The court's decision addressed four main issues with the 2003 final rule promulgated by the EPA: Agricultural Stormwater Discharges: The EPA's authority to regulate CAFO waste that results in agricultural stormwater discharge was one of the "most controversial" aspects of the 2003 rule. The issue centered on the scope of the Clean Water Act (CWA), which provides for the regulation only of "point sources." The term was defined by the CWA to expressly include CAFOs but exclude "agricultural stormwater." The EPA was thus forced to interpret the statutory definition to "identify the conditions under which discharges from the land application area of [waste from] a CAFO are point source discharges that are subject to NPDES permitting requirements, and those which are agricultural stormwater discharges and thus are