EPA considering ditching pollution report for farms

WASHINGTON (AP) - Democratic lawmakers are questioning a Bush administration plan to eliminate requirements for farms to disclose air pollution from animal waste.

Currently farms must report to federal, state and local officials when emissions of hazardous substances like ammonia and hydrogen sulfide exceed certain levels. In a little-noticed proposed rule change published in the Federal Register on Dec. 28, when Congress was on its winter recess, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed eliminating the reporting requirement.

EPA argued that the requirement created an unnecessary burden for farms and that the emission release reports weren’t acted on at the federal level, anyway. The public comment period for the proposed change closes March 27.

Democratic Rep. John Dingell of Michigan, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, sent a letter to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson yesterday arguing that the proposed reporting exemption "appears ill-considered and contrary to the public interest."

"The Bush administration’s plan to exempt industrial-sized animal feeding operations from emissions reporting requirements is nothing more than a favor to big agribusiness at the expense of the public health," Dingell said in a statement.

EPA spokesman Jonathan Shradar said agency officials would review and respond to Dingell’s letter. He noted that the proposed exemption is limited in scope as it would only apply to emissions from animal waste.

There are no federal laws or regulations capping release of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide from animal waste, so EPA critics argue that the reporting requirements are the only way for communities to know what they’re being exposed to.

"If the public doesn’t know that the emissions in their area are hazardous to their health how are they going to find out unless the sources are required to report?" asked Bill Becker, executive director of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies.

But a spokeswoman for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association contended that the Superfund law and the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, both of which contain reporting requirements, are not intended to cover livestock manure.

"In the end what we’re talking about here is not a hazardous substance," said spokeswoman Karen Batra. "It’s not toxic sludge or a chemical spill. It’s cow manure."

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