The Environmental Protection Agency proposed Friday to exempt livestock and poultry operations from future air pollution fines under the Clean Air Act if they agree to pay to finance studies that could lead to new regulations in the next decade or so.
Jan. 22—WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency proposed Friday to exempt livestock and poultry operations from future air pollution fines under the Clean Air Act if they agree to pay to finance studies that could lead to new regulations in the next decade or so.
The proposal is expected to have minimal effect in California, where farm emissions already are regulated.
But it was immediately blasted by the Sierra Club as a "get out of jail for free card" for factory-style meat producers.
Thomas Skinner, acting assistant EPA administrator, hailed the proposed compliance agreement with animal-feeding operations as a "huge step forward," saying it presents the best opportunity to reach the largest number of farm operations to bring them under Clean Air Act compliance.
Animal-feeding operations are not regulated by the federal agency, even though the aggregation of large numbers of animals produces waste and dust that degrade air quality.
The problem is determining how much of such wastes is generated. Federal regulation has been stymied by a chicken-and-egg kind of argument over whether regulation should come in advance of studies measuring the amounts of pollution they are trying to reduce.
California, however, has been moving aggressively to tackle the problem and has imposed regulatory requirements even as studies defining the problem proceed. Many such studies are nearing completion.
The state enacted legislation in 2003 that eliminated the Clean Air Act exemption for farm operations. Next week in Fresno, the California Air Resources Board is holding a seminar that will lead to the adoption of a definition of "large confined-animal facilities" that will be more strenuously regulated under the law.
"The state of California has its own laws," said Gennet Paauwe, spokesperson for the California Air Resources Board, who said the state rules are likely to be much more stringent than anything the federal government might produce out of Friday's proposal.
J.P. Cativiela, program coordinator for a dairy industry organization in Sacramento that focuses on environmental issues — Community Alliance for Responsible Environmental Stewardship — said the federal proposal is not exactly moot in California, but he doubts operators will rush forward to embrace the program.
"I don't anticipate anyone will sign on," he said. "We already have a much more stringent program. We are well on the way to finishing our standards."
Michael Marsh, head of the Modesto-based Western United Dairymen that represents 1,100 of the state's estimated 2,000 dairy operations, said his industry has not been happy with the direction the EPA has been moving.
He said the EPA proposal would study four different areas and base its standards on that. But rainfall patterns and other conditions vary so widely area by area, even within California, that the EPA sample size would be too small to be effective and meaningful.
"The scientific community hasn't supported this approach," Marsh said.
The Sierra Club said the proposal is the result of a proposal sought by major meat producers in secret meetings with the Bush administration.
"The largest corporations in the livestock industry are being let off the hook in exchange for agreeing to 'study' their air pollution and paying small fees," the club said.
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© 2005, The Sacramento Bee, Calif. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
