By JILL DAWSON
Wisconsin Correspondent

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Michael Formica, environmental counsel for the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC), was recently appointed to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Air Act Advisory Committee.

Established in 1990, this committee is a senior-level policy panel advises EPA on issues related to implementing the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990.

Though Formica is one of four agricultural representatives serving on this committee, he said this is the first time any livestock group has had representation.

While he formally represents the NPPC, he said he is committed to speaking on behalf of all livestock producers.

Formica said the NPPC had serious concerns in response to the EPA’s dust rule.

“The agency spent a lot of time and a good number of years looking at air emissions as they related to heavy manufacturing and energy production and transportation use,” he said. “And then when the time came for the rule to come out, they had completely forgotten about agriculture in rural America and decided to just stick us with the rule they had dealt for urban areas with heavy industry.
“My hope is that, being there, I can at least be a voice to make sure that they are mindful of what the conditions really are that we’re dealing with, and the reality of livestock production and all agriculture.”

As a representative for the NPPC, Formica said he will provide information so the EPA “will have a full understanding of what they are dealing with from day one.”

The EPA is developing a new rule for concentrated animal feeding operations and his goal here will be to assist it in designing a rule that is appropriate for livestock producers. This rule will include reviewing and interpreting data from on-farm emissions monitoring, as well as a plan for implementing the federal Renewable Fuels Standard.

“Michael’s appointment to the Clean Air Act Advisory Committee means EPA will receive sound counsel on environmental matters, and pork producers will have a voice with an agency that can affect their very livelihoods,” said Randy Spronk, a pork producer from Edgerton, Minn., and chairman of NPPC’s environmental committee.
Formica predicts the EPA’s primary focus is going to be on energy production, electric, oil, gas and ethanol.

While the EPA might look at the impact of those industries without considering agricultural considerations, he said, “At the end of the day, they’re going to have to include agriculture.”

He has been exposed to a lifetime of environmental regulations.
“Growing up, I saw the ridiculous amount of time my father, a manufacturing company owner, had to spend on federal, state and environmental regulations, most of which were written by people with no understanding of the industry they were regulating,” he explained.

Formica added that many regulations contradicted other regulations.

With this in mind, he pursued a career in law to “do something about it.”

Formica has been in practice for 10 years.

Prior to his employment at the NPPC, Formica was the director of Environment Affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Earlier, he represented agricultural clients on air, waste and water issues as well as on eminent domain and Fifth Amendment proceedings as an associate attorney with Baise & Miller, P.C. in Washington, D.C.

He received his bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Rhode Island and his law degree from Vermont Law School.