Groups File New Suit on CAFOs

OMAHA (DTN) -- A number of environmental groups wanting to force confined animal feeding operations to report their emissions to EPA are asking a judge to reopen a federal lawsuit.

The groups want EPA to turn back a 2008 federal exemption the agency granted livestock producers over two pollution right-to-know laws.

Waterkeeper Alliance, Sierra Club, the Humane Society of the United States, Environmental Integrity Project and the Center for Food Safety asked in a filing with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to reopen a lawsuit the groups filed back in 2008.

Eve Gartner, Earthjustice Northeast staff attorney representing the groups, said during a news conference Wednesday that EPA has had enough time to change federal rules to require CAFOs to report ammonia and hydrogen sulfide emissions. Such reporting requirements are outlined in the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, or CERCLA, and the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, or EPCRA.

According to court documents filed Wednesday, farms exempted from the rule are those devoted to crop or animal production that lead to annual sales of $1,000 or more.

"All industries around the country have to report when they release substances into the environment that exceed acceptable levels," Gartner said. "As soon as the exemption was adopted, the lawsuit was filed in 2008. Shortly after, the Obama administration asked the court to dismiss the case because it was reconsidering the rules. Persuaded by the Obama administration, the court dismissed the case but allowed the exemption to stay in place."

An EPA spokesperson told DTN the agency would review and respond to the court action.

Gartner said the last EPA-reported action of record was an August 2012 meeting with representatives of the National Pork Producers Council.

"The Obama administration has broken its promise to move quickly to fix the problem," she said. "EPA has done nothing since 2012... EPA actually put the revisions on hold indefinitely. Rural communities are paying the price. We had no choice but to go back to the court for relief."

EPA had been holding out on potentially revising the rule until the completion of a national air emissions monitoring study.

"Documents recently provided by EPA to petitioners in response to a Freedom of Information Act request indicate that EPA's work on revising the exemption rule came to a complete standstill in 2012," the groups said in court documents filed Wednesday. "In a recent meeting, EPA officials confirmed that work to revise the exemption rule has stopped until EEMs are developed, and that the EEM development process is on hold indefinitely."

In the filing, the groups outline a number of health effects from exposure to ammonia that "range from slight eye and throat irritation to death after less than 30 minutes of exposure." Exposure to hydrogen sulfide "may include death, adverse respiratory and cardiovascular effects and neurological damage."

FARMER EFFECTS

Sac County, Iowa, farmer Rosemary Partridge, said during the news conference that odor coming from a number of hog farms has affected her family's way of life in recent years. Partridge said there are some 30,000 hogs living in CAFOs within four miles of their farm.

"In the last 15 years, our enjoyment of the outdoors has been greatly degraded," she said.

The odor is strongest when the CAFOs spread some 1,000 gallons of liquid manure within 100 feet of their house.

"We are nauseated at times from the odor," she said, as the family has had to leave the home at times until the odor subsided.

"We don't know how much we're being exposed to at a given time," Partridge said. "We have had to curtail activities outside. It's hard to understand why that isn't regulated."

SPARKING ACTION

Gartner told DTN even if EPA is at some point required to turn back the reporting exemption, the communities near CAFOs ultimately will need to push to have air emissions improved.

"We know from studies that when industry has to make public the amount of pollutants they emit, it inevitably leads to industry making changes," she said. "It is a strong incentive to reduce emissions and cleanup operations. There are ways they can reduce emissions."

Sacoby Wilson, assistant professor at the Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health, told DTN requiring the animal feeding operations to report emissions is an important step toward "better engagement" in the community about what can be done to reduce emissions on farms.

"This data will empower residents on how to better manage animals and better management waste," he said. "It is putting the burden of proof on the industries. Right now the burden of proof is on communities and on researchers."

Kelly Foster, senior attorney at Waterkeeper Alliance, said the EPA exemption has left communities guessing about what kinds of pollution were being emitted.

"People have a right to know that this industry is releasing hazardous substances into the air near their homes, schools, businesses, and communities," she said. "EPA does not have the authority to deny people access to information that is essential to protecting their health and the health of their communities and water resources."

Todd Neeley can be reached at todd.neeley@dtn.com

Follow him on Twitter @toddneeleyDTN

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