Dingell Asks EPA for Explanation on New CAFO Rules

According to Andrew Schneider, correspondent for the the Seattle PI, Michigan’s Rep. John D. Dingell, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee is wondering how the EPA decided it should take a pass on regulating air emissions from CAFO’s in light of findings by the EPA’s own scientists indicating that “hydrogen sulfide and ammonia from animal waste from huge factory livestock operations can be powerful pollutants with potentially serious health effects, such as acute respiratory irritation and damage to central nervous system.” More:

Rep. John Dingell’s Committee on Energy and Commerce, and the heads of two of the subcommittees - Reps. Al Wynn and Hilda Solis - have written EPA Administrator Steve Johnson to explain what is behind what the members call “this questionable exemption” to the toxic emissions reporting law.Dingell said: “It’s nothing more than a favor to big agribusiness at the expense of the public health and communities living near these facilities.” Wynn said: “It defies logic to exempt animal feeding operations from the Superfund and Emergency Planning Community Right to Know Act reporting requirements when the toxic air emissions from these operations can cause severe health effects in people, even death.”

Solis cautioned that without reporting requirements, local governments risk being unable to protect the health and environment of their communities.

Link.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 20th, 2008 at 10:53 am and is filed under CAFO, CAFOs!. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.