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HSUS, others petition EPA to regulate CAFO’s
The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is taking a new approach in its efforts to regulate animal agriculture.
HSUS has joined with several environmental groups in petitioning the EPA to regulate confined-animal feeding operations (CAFO’s) under the Clean Air Act. The groups submitted a petition late last month asking that emissions of hydrogen sulfide, ammonia and other gases from CAFO’s be curbed. The groups claim such emissions endanger human health and welfare.
We asked Gary Baise, an attorney specializing in ag and environmental issues, if he thinks EPA could look favorably upon that petition. “My guess is that the agency will look to see if there is a possible way of regulating emissions,” Baise says, “but I think the agency will find, as result of the national air emissions study it’s presently conducting with the pork industry, that it’s going to be virtually impossible to regulate these emissions.”
However, Baise says there is a chance—which he puts at 50-50—that the EPA could seek new CAFO regulations under what he calls “work practices”.
“This can include telling you how you house, how you feed, and how much time you keep the animals in an operation,” says Baise. “There is a line in the petition that suggests that the animals should be put into what they would call ‘the organic feeding cycle’—and that, to those of us in agriculture, just means having animals out on the ground.”
Baise says that, while past attempts to regulate CAFO’s have had some success, this petition by HSUS is a much more dangerous legal tactic. That’s because the Clean Air Act does not require an absolute certainty of proof of actual harm when making an endangerment finding.
AUDIO: Gary Baise (14 min mp3)
Tags: Environmental Issues, EPA, HSUS, Livestock
I thought a large number of farms were allready composting there animals waste? The research was done in Oklahoma (Kerr Center) on doing it so gasses aren’t released? It brings in a good second income. I wonder if the not so bright animal rights groups know that animal waste and human waste release the same gases? So theres answers. Profitable answers.