A federal court is giving the EPA more time to implement a controversial manure air emissions reporting requirement that has the livestock industry crying ‘foul.’
The National Pork Producers Association backed the EPA in the agency’s request to the US Court of Appeals for DC last month for more time to comply with the court’s air emissions reporting order. NPPC’s Michael Formica.
NPPC estimates between 60-thousand and 100-thousand livestock and poultry operations will need to file air emissions reports with the Coast Guard National Response Center, as well as written reports with their regional EPA office.
EPA puts the figure at 45-thousand farms and 450-thousand hours of total added paperwork. But, Formica suggests most farmers will have to guess if they’re exceeding a hundred-pounds of methane or ammonia emissions.
Formica says most producers won’t hire professional monitors to test their air but will simply file the required forms. He says, if they don’t, they could be sued by environmental and animal rights groups for millions of dollars, something Formica says has already happened to one operator in Arizona.
From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting News Service.