BUSH ADMINISTRATION TO RELEASE SWEETHEART DEAL THAT EXEMPTS FACTORY FARMS FROM AIR POLLUTION REQUIREMENTS
Sources
Inside EPA Say Deal to be Released as Early as Next Week; Earlier
Commitment to Public Comment Period Now Not Expected to be Honored
WASHINGTON, D.C.
– The Bush Administration is expected to announce as early as next week
an agreement with the meat industry that will shield factory farms from
federal air pollution requirements, according to the Environment
Integrity Project (EIP) and the Sierra Club. Despite making an
earlier commitment to allow public comment on the sweetheart deal, the
Administration is expected to go forward with the deal with mega-farms
without any input from the public.
Meat
industry groups approached the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) in 2002 asking the agency to shield them from Clean Air Act and
Superfund hazardous waste laws. Bush administration officials then
corresponded in secret with industry lobbyists to craft a deal that
allows the industry to continue polluting without threat of
prosecution, in exchange for a commitment from factory farms to study
the problem for a number of years. The agreement with the meat industry
was drafted without consulting those who suffer from the pollution
caused by large livestock operations, and with only minimal input from
the scientific and environmental communities.
Relying
on leaked drafts and documents that were obtained under open records
laws, a variety of concerned parties have told EPA that they object to
the sweetheart deal because of the lack of public participation in the
process to date, the sweeping nature of the liability shield, and the
scientific flaws in the monitoring program.
Sources
inside EPA say that the agency now is finalizing the sweetheart deal,
possibly without seeking public comment – a move that breaks a written
promise made to Congress in October 2003. Using
a closed process involving only the industry, the new EPA agreement is
another example of the Bush Administration letting polluters write the
rules while leaving the public out of the process.
The deal
with the livestock industry will put many communities at risk. The
American Public Health Association and the National Academy of Sciences
have stated that pollution from massive animal factories jeopardizes
public health in rural communities across the nation. Bearing no
resemblance to the traditional family farm, these facilities pack
thousands of animals into small spaces, produce as much waste as a
small city, and spew toxic gases and other pollutants into the air.
Livestock production is the single largest contributor of ammonia gas
release in the United States, and giant animal factories also emit
hydrogen sulfide and fine dust particles – both of which are linked to
respiratory illness – in dangerous quantities.
For more information on factory farm pollution, go to:
Blog For Iowa 
Well bush & his cronies better get their heads out of the sand because their rumps are not only going to get burnt from the increase of ultraviolet rays due to the decrease of ozone, but their “values” are showing. When they continue to make stupid decisions such as this one, the only conclusion I can draw is that none of them went to school, private or public. Fortunately, the recent ruling by an IOWA court which upheld as a “nusance” the existence of a large hoglot close to a homeowner who was there first may give some of us hope……We'll see
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