EPA Offers Large Producers Amnesty on Clean Air Act Violations |
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February 17, 2005
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HSUS
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By Susanne Abromaitis
Under the guidance of the Bush Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency is offering factory farms a sweetheart deal of immunity from standards set forth by the Clean Air Act. Dubbed the "Air Quality Compliance Agreement," the plan offers amnesty for all previous violations of the CAA—including those for which fines have already been imposed—in exchange for voluntary participation in a two-year study to gather information on emissions.
Announced on January 21, the amnesty agreement amounts to a free pass to factory farms for past and current violations of the Clean Air Act. Factory farms (known as concentrated animal feeding operations or CAFOs) that sign up for the study will pay a nominal fee of $2,500, plus a one-time penalty of $200 to $100,000, depending on facility size, for "presumed" past violations, and evade fines for toxic emissions until 2007. For factory farms already facing multiple fines far exceeding $100,000, the deal offers an inexpensive way to dodge regulation. CAFOs have a 90-day sign-up period to participate.
Under existing rules, factory farms in violation of CAA standards can be fined $27,500 per day. However, while the EPA has already brought CAA enforcement actions against numerous facilities, the agency now claims to need "more data to determine whether operations are in violation" of requirements of emissions of air pollutants that fall under the jurisdiction of the Clean Air Act, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, and the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act.
One of the largest factory farmers, Tyson Foods, lobbied heavily in favor of the voluntary program and contributed $100,000 to the Bush/Cheney inaugural activities the week before the program was announced. In January, the company settled a Sierra Club lawsuit by agreeing to fund a $500,000 emissions study at two of its poultry plants.
The Clean Air Act was passed during the heyday of environmental legislation in the 1970s. In the intervening years however, the replacement of countless small farms by large-scale factory farms that raise hundreds of thousands of animals in intensive confinement has turned factory farm emissions into a serious problem—one the framers of the law could never have anticipated.
Although the EPA now claims that collection of data is critical for monitoring potential violators on a larger level, the Clean Air Act already mandates that factory farms provide that data and adhere to clean air standards. The agency plans to select a "representative sample" of 28 or fewer of the estimated 15,500 large farms in the United States, where testing for emissions will be conducted. Critics of the plan, including The HSUS, are concerned about agribusiness taking a lead role in designing and funding the proposed government study.
Environmentalists and animal welfare advocates are raising other objections. Michele Merkel, a former EPA staff attorney now with the Environmental Integrity Project, told the Christian Science Monitor that "Four years ago we already knew that facilities of a certain size were exceeding health-based standards in the Clean Air Act."
"The Bush Administration's pandering to big agriculture by tampering with the enforcement of the Clean Air Act is appalling news for farm animals and agricultural workers alike," says Wayne Pacelle, HSUS President and CEO. "No further data are needed to demonstrate the dangers of pollution generated by factory farms. To exempt these producers from CAA standards is atrocious."
"This new amnesty program for factory farms is fundamentally at odds with both the letter and spirit of the CAA," adds Michael Appleby, senior research scientist for The HSUS Farm Animals and Sustainable Agriculture section. "The agreement is a slap in the face of environmentalists, human health advocates and animal activists alike."
The amnesty agreement is but one facet of the Bush Administration's attempts to weaken enforcement of the Clean Air Act. S. 131, the so-called "Clear Skies Initiative," is being fast tracked through Congress after being quietly announced during the presidential inauguration activities in late January. The bill proposes to weaken Clean Air Act enforcement by relaxing pollution reduction requirements for major industries.
Health Hazards
Factory farm emissions pollution represent a clear threat to animal welfare. The emissions from CAFOs are often so noxious that the pathologies produced are painful, stressful and even fatal to animals and agricultural workers.
Among the CAFOs to be exempted from Clean Air Act regulation are swine facilities, which can produce the most potentially deadly fumes. Because large numbers of pigs are confined in very small spaces within buildings that are highly enclosed, the buildings have automated devices to ventilate and dispose of animal waste. The waste typically falls through slats on the floor into a large pit, where massive amounts of manure release more than 40 poisonous gases, including ammonia and hydrogen sulfide.
An Iowa State University report notes that nearly 60% of workers in swine confinement facilities commonly suffer respiratory effects ranging from headaches to shortness of breath. When manure pits are agitated before emptying, hydrogen sulfide levels can rise to lethal levels within seconds. Exposure to hydrogen sulfide during pit agitation has accounted for the deaths of several confinement workers.
Studies show that animal agriculture accounts for roughly three-quarters of all ammonia emissions in the United States. Ammonia is a problem in poultry houses; research has shown that ammonia levels of 50 parts per million in a single house—not uncommon—will seriously impact bird growth and significantly compromise animal welfare. Excessive amounts of ammonia can cause the birds to suffer from respiratory disease, gastrointestinal irritation, foot/hock and breast blisters, eye infection, blindness and even death. Ammonia results from wet litter and high temperatures that promote bacterial growth, releasing the noxious gas. Trachea and lung lesions caused by ammonia also render birds more susceptible to bacterial infections such as E.coli.
But while these impacts point to the types and levels of air pollution that should be the focus of EPA enforcement, the agency's amnesty program appears to be buying time for large producers instead.
"Many factory farms set up operations in an area with the full expectation of closing down within ten years, because they know the high levels of ammonia and other noxious gases will corrode the very foundation of the barns," says Robert Haddad, director of Farming Systems for The HSUS. "But by participating in the EPA's sweetheart deal, factory farms can safely carry on their abusive and polluting operations without fear of retribution until the decade has come to a close."
What You Can Do
The EPA is accepting comments on the agreement until March 2, 2005. Please submit comments by one of the following methods, and voice your opposition to allowing factory farms to avoid having to meet Clean Air Act standards. Please reference Docket ID no. OAR-2004-0237 in your correspondence and provide two hard copies of your comments if submitting by hand delivery or postal mail.
Hand delivery:
Environmental Protection Agency
1301 Constitution Ave., NW
Room B102
Washington, DC 20460
E-mail: a-and-r-docket@epa.gov with Docket ID no. OAR-2004-0237 in the subject line
Fax: 202-566-1741
Postal Mail:
Air Docket, Environmental Protection Agency
Mailcode: 6102T
1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20460
Susanne Abromaitis is a campaigner for the Farm Animals and Sustainable Agriculture section at The HSUS.
