Clearing The Air?

Alabama Mobile The EPA is proposing that some farmers be exempt from reporting hazardous emissions from poultry and livestock waste.

by Associated Press

Published: Sun, April 13, 2008 - 1:30 pm CST

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) - Poultry growers use fans and other methods
to deal with ammonia, which is generated by chicken waste and in
extreme concentrations can blind or kill the flock as well as cause
health problems for those entering the chicken house.
The "nose test" works for most growers who can walk into a
poultry house and with a sniff determine if the ammonia level is
too high and immediately switch on a fan. But is anyone outside the
chicken house threatened when the noxious fumes escape into the
air?
Farm groups, including the National Cattlemen's Beef Association
and the poultry industry, don't think so. But environmentalists and
others supporting air quality in farm communities say the fumes
need to be monitored -- and they are objecting to a proposal to end
such monitoring.
A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rule from the mid-1980s
requires that animal-waste emissions such as ammonia and hydrogen
sulfide be reported to the government when they reach a certain
level.
The rule is now getting a lot more attention. After it drew
enforcement actions by the federal agency and the courts in the
last few years, EPA proposed exempting farms from reporting
hazardous emissions from poultry and livestock waste.
Responding to the EPA proposal, Earthjustice attorney Keri
Powell of New York told the agency that the exemption, if granted,
will make it harder for emergency responders who keep track of
emissions to protect communities.
EPA's public comment period for the proposed change ended March
27 and the agency received hundreds of responses. It's unclear when
EPA will rule on the proposed change.

To take a look at the proposed exemption Click Here

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