NASDA SUBMITS COMMENTS ON AGRICULTURE EMISSIONS RULE

News Date March 24, 2008

       NASDA has submitted comments on a proposed rule by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to exempt certain agricultural air emission reporting under federal hazardous waste laws. The comments were submitted by NASDA's Natural Resource and Pesticide Management Committee Chairman Leonard Blackham (Utah) and Vice Chairman Bill Northey (Iowa). 
       NASDA's comments strongly support EPA's proposed rulemaking on December 28, 2007, to exempt certain releases of hazardous substances to the air from the administrative notification requirements of the "Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act" (CERCLA ) and the "Community Right-To-Know Act" (EPCRA), also known as Superfund law. This proposed exemption is very limited and narrow. It would only exempt certain poultry growing operations from emergency notification requirements for air emissions where the source of the release is animal waste at farms. These substances are typically ammonia and hydrogen sulfide which are emitted to the air from digestion activities, break-down, or decomposition of animal waste.
       In recent years, NASDA and other agricultural organizations have expressed concern about a growing number of lawsuits that seek to regulate farm operations under the Superfund hazardous waste law. NASDA firmly believes that it was never intended for agricultural operations, including manure fertilizer and other substances used in routine farm operations, to be regulated under these laws. NASDA and many farm groups have pushed EPA and Congress to address this broader issue for some time. NASDA's comments and additional information on this topic are posted on the NASDA website. (Contact: Charlie Ingram)