Subject: [permaculture] EPA WORKS OUT SWEETHEART DEAL WITH FACTORY FARMS
Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2003 09:56:14 -0600
EPA WORKS OUT SWEETHEART DEAL WITH FACTORY FARMS
Date: Dec 2003 14 From: "BushGreenwatch" {info@bushgreenwatch.org}
December 17, 2003
Perhaps taking its cue from the Cheney Energy Task Force, the EPA has
been holding secret meetings with the agribusiness industry this year,
putting together a "sweetheart deal" with lobbyists to exempt factory
farms from Clean Air Act and Superfund regulations.
The EPA has proposed offering "an industry-wide pardon" for air
pollution violations to massive hog, cattle and chicken farms, says
Sierra Club attorney Barclay Rogers.
"This deal is being negotiated behind closed doors, and the Sierra Club
and other environmental groups are trying to pry those doors open
through a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act," Rogers told
BushGreenwatch.
The lawsuit demands the Bush Administration divulge information about
the secret meetings between EPA and industry.[1] Even though documents
had been leaked to environmental groups, EPA denied the existence of a
deal until after the lawsuit was filed in September. The plaintiffs
have asked the court to order EPA to immediately turn over its records.
A copy of the deal obtained by environmentalists indicates that EPA
would agree not to pursue factory farms for polluting if they paid a
$500 penalty and agreed to take part in a study to monitor emissions.[2]
Localities, some of which have been unable to meet air quality
standards because of farm emissions, have complained.
"The result would be an evisceration of states' and localities' ability
to address air quality problems emanating from agricultural
operations," two organizations representing state and local air quality
officials said in a letter to EPA.
A small number of corporate farming giants dominate the U.S. meat
industry - in 2001, for instance, 75 percent of all hogs were packed
into just 9 percent of U.S. hog farms, resulting in roughly 5,000 hogs
per operation.[3] With so many animals - and manure - concentrated onto
so few farms, they are a major source of air emissions of hazardous
gases and particulate matter proven to cause lung ailments and even
premature death.
[permaculture] EPA WORKS OUT SWEETHEART DEAL WITH FACTORY FARMS,
mIEKAL aND, 12/18/2003