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Home Page We advocate on all animal protection and exploitation issues, including experimentation, factory farming, rodeos, breeders and traveling animal acts. Animal Defenders of Westchester |
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Environmental Protection Agency Favors Factory Farms EPA Deal Allows Factory Farms To Avoid Air Laws WASHINGTON, DC, January 25, 2005 (ENS) The Bush administration has
offered factory farms immunity from some federal clean air regulations in
exchange for allowing the federal government to monitor their air pollution.
Officials with the U.S. Environmental Protection say the deal will make
it easier to finalize air regulations for concentrated animal farm
operations (CAFOs) and to ensure compliance with current regulations, but
will not result in immediate emission reductions. "This agreement is a huge step forward," said Thomas Skinner, EPA¹s
acting assistant administrator for enforcement and compliance assurance. "It
will allow us to reach the largest number of animal feeding operations in
the shortest period of time and ensure that they comply with applicable
clean air requirements." The offer, announced Friday, is the agency¹s response to a 2002 report by
the National Academy of Sciences that called for an improved method for
estimating emission from large scale livestock and poultry farms. Over the past CAFO ten years, Wisconsin has become home to an increasing
number of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, operations with 1,000 or
more animal units. (Photo courtesy Wisconsin DNR) These facilities have emerged in the past two decades as the dominant
force in meat production, but there are serious environmental and public
health concerns over operations with capacities often in excess of one
million animals. CAFOs produce large amounts of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide, both of
which have been linked with respiratory ailments and are on the priority
list of hazardous substances created under the Superfund law. In addition, feed and manure dust are considered particulate matter a
criteria pollutant under the Clean Air Act that is linked with respiratory
ailments and is a main source of haze. But the EPA says it needs more data on farm air emissions to determine
violations of existing regulations and to develop emission standards
specific to the industry. Operators participating in the agreement will pay a civil penalty of
between $200 and $100,000, based on the size and number of farms in their
operation that fee grants them immunity from past and present Superfund,
Clean Air Act and Community to Know Act violations, as well as violations
that may occur while the EPA is finalizing regulations over the next several
years. Participants will also pay $2,500 into a fund that will cover the cost of
the two year emissions monitoring program. Officials say once regulations have been established, operators will be
required to apply for all applicable air permits, install all needed
controls, implement all required practices, and otherwise come into full
compliance. Some 4,000 farms mostly hog and chicken producers are expected to
participate, according to the EPA, with about 30 of those farms set for
monitoring. Swine feeding operation in Arkansas (Photo courtesy Arkansas Soil and
Water Conservation Commission) The National Pork Producers Council (NPCC) praised the offer and said the
monitoring would provide the ³sound scientific data² needed to reduce
emissions from farms. "This has been a long, exhaustive and costly
endeavor that NPPC has led on behalf of America¹s pork producers for the
past three years," said Dave Roper, chairman of
NPPC¹s Environment Committee and an Idaho pork producer.
"I urge all pork producers to seriously consider signing the consent
agreement." But the close cooperation between industry and the EPA has alarmed
environmentalists, who believe the agreement is a backroom, sweetheart deal
that delays cleanup and enforcement of harmful air emissions from factory
farms. "EPA's giveaway to the livestock industry is troubling to those downwind
of factory farms and sends the wrong message to other polluting industries,"
said Joe Rudek, senior scientist with Environmental Defense. Rudek notes that although any producer that signs up would receive a
waiver from enforcement, emissions from only a small number of farms would
actually be monitored. "EPA clearly has the authority to require monitoring of air emissions and
relinquishes far too much of its control in this voluntary program,"
Rudek said. "Industry should pay to monitor its
pollution, and it should also be required to collect data that document the
full impact of emissions on air quality, rather than making the limited
measurements called for in EPA's plan." The impacts of CAFO air pollution can be severe a 1999 University of
North Carolina study, for example, found that people living near large hog
farms suffer high levels of upper respiratory ailments. And a study published last month by researchers at Johns Hopkins raised
concerns that people could be exposed to antibiotic resistant bacteria from
breathing the air from concentrated swine feeding facilities. Researchers detected bacteria resistant to at least two antibiotics in
air samples collected from inside a large scale swine operation in the
Mid-Atlantic region. The EPA says the agreement does not limit its ability to take action
"in the event of imminent and substantial danger
to public health or the environment." Operators that are the subject of current enforcement actions may be
barred from joining the study, according to the agency, and the agreement
also preserves state and local authorities¹ authority to enforce local odor
or nuisance laws. EPA will accept public comment on the agreement for 30 days following
publication in the Federal Register. Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2005. Fair Use Notice: This document may contain
copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the
copyright owners. We believe that this not-for-profit, educational use on
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permission from the copyright owner. |
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