EPA: Farmers Can Stink Up Their Farm As Much As They Want

[Guest Patriot Games]

http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2007Jul18/0,4670,FarmSceneAirStudy,00.html

 

Challenge to Farm Emissions Rejected

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

 

DES MOINES, Iowa - Farms can't be sued over the pollution or odors they

emit as long as they have entered into an agreement with the Environmental

Protection Agency, a federal appeals court ruled.

 

The ruling, issued Tuesday, was a rebuke to environmental groups, including

the Sierra Club, which sued to change an EPA policy they say allows animal

feeding operations to skirt environmental laws and only pay nominal fines.

 

The petitioners maintained that animal feeding operations pollute the air,

emit terrible odors and attract hordes of flies that leave droppings on

everything from cars to furniture.

 

They argued that the EPA did not follow proper rule-making procedures in

crafting an agreements to allow farms to avoid legal punishment and lawsuits

for violating air emissions requirements. The agreements requires the farms

to pay a civil penalty and give the government permission to monitor the

facility for an EPA study of emissions.

 

Nearly 2,600 animal feeding operations, the majority of them hog farms, have

entered into agreement with the EPA.

 

"The EPA decided to give them blanket amnesty in the form of, 'You send us a

check ... and we'll guarantee that no one will sue you,'" said David

Bookbinder, senior attorney for the Sierra Club.

 

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, however, found in

its 2-1 ruling that the EPA was exercising a valid use of the agency's

enforcement discretion by entering into agreements with the farms.

 

A call to the groups' attorney, Brent J. Newell, was not immediately

returned.

 

Luke W. Cole, the executive director of the Center on Race, Poverty and the

Environment, said it was reviewing the decision to determine its next course

of action.

 

The EPA maintains its policy is the most effective option while methods of

tracking farm emissions are studied.

 

Researchers from eight universities this summer began a 30-month study of

the emissions of animal feeding operations at 24 sites in nine states. When

the study is complete, the EPA is expected to draft air emissions standards

for such operations.

 

"The (animal feeding operations) agreements bring us closer to ensuring

clean air compliance nationwide ..." EPA spokesman Dave Ryan said in a

statement. "Additionally, the first-ever national study of emissions from

poultry, dairy and swine operations can continue without delay."

 

Organizations with ties to the livestock industry have supported the EPA's

policy on agreements, and on Tuesday applauded the court's ruling.

 

Randy Spronk, the chairman of the National Pork Producers Council's

environmental policy committee, said the agreements between the EPA and

animal feeding operations were a necessary bridge while an emissions study

is completed.

 

"By working cooperatively with the EPA to conduct emissions monitoring, we

are developing the body of scientific knowledge on air emissions from animal

agriculture that is necessary to design and implement effective mitigation

measures," Spronk said in a statement.