By DOUG SCHMITZ

Iowa Correspondent

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — The U.S. EPA has proposed an across-the-board exemption for farmers from routine reporting of livestock emissions, effectively amending the requirement under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA).

“This proposed rule is intended to make it clear to the regulated community that animal waste emissions from farms do not need to be reported under the EPCRA,” said EPA Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler, who signed the proposed rule with U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) at the EPA Region 7 Lab in Kansas City on Oct. 30.

“This action provides much-needed certainty and clarity to America’s farmers and ranchers. It also ensures our emergency response officials are focusing their time and resources on hazardous waste emergencies and not routine animal waste.”

If finalized, the rule would also provide livestock producers with greater regulatory certainty. “Farmers and ranchers continue to face numerous challenges, and the removal of this unnecessary and burdensome regulation is welcome news for producers across our state,” Moran said.

EPCRA was passed in 1986 in response to concerns regarding the environmental and safety hazards posed by the storage and handling of toxic chemicals. These concerns were triggered by the 1984 disaster in Bhopal, India, caused by an accidental release of methylisocyanate. The release killed or severely injured more than 2,000 people, EPA said.

To reduce the likelihood of such a disaster in the United States, Congress imposed requirements for federal, state and local governments, tribes and industry. These requirements covered emergency planning and “Community Right-to-Know” reporting on hazardous and toxic chemicals.

The EPA said Community Right-to-Know provisions help increase the public’s knowledge and access to information on chemicals at individual facilities, their uses and releases into the environment. States and communities, working with facilities, can use the information to improve chemical safety and protect public health and the environment.

“It was never the intent of Congress for normal odors from animal waste on farms to fall under our nation’s emergency hazardous waste reporting requirements, so I appreciate Administrator Wheeler taking definitive action today to provide certainty to the livestock industry,” Moran said.

EPA Region 7 Administrator Jim Gulliford added, “Our proposed rule would provide enhanced clarity for small and large animal producers and reduce confusion for emergency response officials throughout EPA Region 7, which covers the agricultural Midwest including Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska and Missouri.”

In a joint statement, the U.S. Poultry & Egg Assoc., National Chicken Council, National Turkey Federation and United Egg Producers (UEP) commended the EPA for its proposed changes to EPCRA. “The removal of this unnecessary burden will ensure that emergency first responders’ important effort and time is not wasted on responding to non-emergencies,” it read.

“We look forward to working with local emergency planning commissions and emergency first responders to help them be familiar with how our poultry and egg facilities operate, so if there is a true emergency, their safety and efforts are enhanced.”

Chad Gregory, president and CEO of UEP, said, “The UEP is also grateful to Congress and the members of both parties for the bipartisan passage of the Fair Agricultural Reporting Method Act earlier this year, which amended the law that led to this rulemaking.”

Kevin Stiles, executive director of the Iowa Poultry Assoc. and Iowa Egg Council, told Farm World that research shows no tangible benefits from individual producers reporting routine emissions to federal emergency response authorities.

“Most farmers are in regular contact with local community emergency personnel, and will continue to cooperate with local and federal authorities in providing relevant information to emergency responders, should the need arise,” he said.

The comment period is open for 30 days after publication of the proposed rule in the Federal Register. The EPA website links to www.regulations.gov for submitting comments online, under Docket No. EPA-HQ-OLEM-2018-0318; at press time there were no documents yet matching that docket number.