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  • From: bob ford <bobford79 AT yahoo.com>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Homestead] EPA Exempts Factory Farms From Emissions Reporting Rule
  • Date: Sat, 13 Dec 2008 13:03:59 -0800 (PST)

I don't understand this issue as well as others on the list; but, if BO wants
this changed , he can do it , immediately, next month, with 'his' executive
order. Personally, as with the Auto-Bail-outs and the bank bail-outs, I
think BO and the Dems have already made agreements with thweir corporate and
banking masters and with GWB and his buddies to accept certain things and
leave them be. If he changes this back in Jan, I will have been wrong about
some of this;...............


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EPA Exempts Factory Farms From Emissions Reporting Rule

By STEPHEN POWER

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration exempted certain large factory farms
from a requirement to report emissions of noxious gases caused by animal
waste, angering environmentalists and delivering another policy victory to
business interests before President-elect Barack Obama and his environmental
team take office.

Under a rule change announced Friday, the Environmental Protection Agency
will allow so-called concentrated animal feeding operations -- large scale
factory farms -- not to disclose to authorities when air emissions of
hazardous substances like ammonia and hydrogen sulfide exceed certain levels
when the source of those emissions is manure.

The agency's move, in the works for a year, has stirred opposition from
environmental groups and some members of Congress who worry that the EPA
lacks information and a clear strategy for regulating mega-farms that have
stirred controversy in some communities because of concerns about foul odors
and water pollution.

In a statement Friday, the EPA said the rule change would "enable authorities
to better focus their attention on hazardous substance releases that require
a response, while reducing reporting burdens on America's farms."

The agency has said existing reporting requirements have created an
unnecessary burden for many farms and that the emission release reports
usually weren't acted upon. The agency added in its Friday statement that
farms would still have to notify authorities when hazardous substances are
released to the air from sources other than animal waste -- for example, from
ammonia tanks -- and when hazardous substances are released to soil and water.

The change drew an indignant response from the chairman of the House Energy
and Commerce Committee, Rep. John Dingell (D., Mich.), who noted that a
report earlier this year by the Government Accountability Office said the EPA
"does not have the information it needs to effectively regulate" emissions
from factory farms.

"Today's action by the Bush EPA is nothing more than a giveaway to Big
Agribusiness at the expense of the public health and of local communities
located near large factory farms," Mr. Dingell said in a written statement.
He added that he intended to investigate "what remedies are available to
block or reverse this regulatory change" when Congress reconvenes next year.

According to the GAO, the number of concentrated animal-feeding operations
more than tripled between 1982 and 2002. The GAO study said such farms can
generate as much as 1.6 million tons of manure annually -- more than one and
a half times the waste produced each year by the city of Philadelphia.

Persuading the EPA to ease reporting requirements of their emissions levels
has been a major goal of some agriculture lobbying groups. In 2005, the
National Chicken Council, the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association and the National
Turkey Federation petitioned the agency to exempt poultry growers from
reporting requirements for ammonia emissions, saying the application of such
requirements "does not improve environmental or public-health outcomes in any
way" and creates overly severe burdens for tens of thousands of family-run
businesses that operate poultry farms.

The rule change marks the latest in a growing number of policy changes
adopted by Bush administration in its final weeks over the objection of
environmental groups. Earlier Friday, the Interior Department finalized rules
making it easier for companies that mine for coal buried under mountaintops
to dump waste near rivers and streams.

Write to Stephen Power at stephen.power AT wsj.com







  • [Homestead] EPA Exempts Factory Farms From Emissions Reporting Rule, bob ford, 12/13/2008

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