EPA Plays Chicken with Regulations: Poultry Farm Emissions Worse than Steel Mills, Oil Refineries
by Brian Merchant, Brooklyn, New York 
on 12.14.08
Jake Rajs—Stone/Getty Images
New studies show that operations from chicken farms generate more ammonia emissions annually than oil refineries and steel mills combined in poultry heavy states. About 8 times more. And now the EPA is pushing for an exemption for the poultry industry so they wouldn't have to report those or other harmful emissions, on grounds that they're protected under federal "right to know" laws. The Bush administration is hoping to get the exemption passed in January, before you-know-who takes office. That's a whole lot of weird, even for this administration—so what's the big stink over poultry?
Spewing Chicken Emissions
For starters, broiler producers in the ten states with the most poultry farms unleashed a massive 481,764,049 pounds of ammonia in 2007, multiple studies have shown. Though there aren't any specified air quality standards for ammonia put forth by the EPA, companies are nonetheless required to report their emissions.
Ammonia is a toxic substance—it can cause major irritation to the skin, eyes, and throat, and it can cause coughing and burns. It can even lead to more serious long term respiratory problems.
The EPA's Possible Exemption: a Soft Spot for Livestock?
And that explains why the poultry industry is lobbying the EPA for the exemption in the first place. The strange part is that it looks as though the exemption may be granted, not just for poultry, but for all livestock operations nationwide. Which is baffling, because the likes of oil refineries and steel mills must report their emissions regularly without exception. The Environmental Integrity Project, the Sierra Club, and the Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment have all rallied against the exemption.
Time will tell who'll win this game of regulatory chicken—the poultry industry still has to beat the clock. Hopefully, the EPA won't be the first to flinch, and will come to its senses before passing this destructive exemption.
More on the EPA:
Robert F Kennedy Jr to Head EPA ? and 4 Runners Up : TreeHugger
EPA Provides New E-Waste Guidelines, But Zero New Regulations ...
EPA Closing Libraries, Destroying Scientific Documents : TreeHugger
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It's clear that you don't understand the purpose of the reporting regulations and the reasoning for this new rule and the other exempting CAFO's from reporting.
The purpose of reporting under CERCLA and EPCRA is that when there is a major chemical spill, release, etc. local and national responders are notified quickly and can do something about it. Given that emissions from farms don't occur in short, acute instances, there's nothing responders could really do.
The best way to discourage/end this type of farming in the first is by changing our consumption practices, and secondarily there are other regulatory measures to address the nutrient management problems at these facilities.
@J:
To do something you first need knowledge. Suppressing the gathering of knowledge is a way to suppress measures.
J: You certain? I have heard about sudden catastrophic agricultural spills in the news, with regards to pig farming, where the waste is stored in above-ground open pits, often adjacent to rivers. I'm confident chicken waste is stored in the same way. It seems sometimes that agricultural waste is as serious a bulk storage problem as coal waste.
Why is poultry waste not being recycled into ammonium fertilizers or for methane? There's only so much chicken litter an enterprising farmer can use.
Chicken waste can be very dangerous. Not just the ammonia, but the methane that is produced, is dangerous. Both need to be measured and reported. Installing bio-mass electrical generating plants is an excellent alternative, as it captures the gases, burns them to produce electricicty and the by-product (manure) is a safe source of nutrients for the soil.
By first measuring and reporting these harmful gases, maybe we can eventually get to regulations to limit/control them.
It is hard to imagine how an uncontrolled ammonia release could happen at a poultry farm.
Farm waste does need to be controlled, and reprocessed as fertilizer, or digested for methane production to produce electricity. And most farm waste is processed, because there is an economic benefit.
Screeching about ammonia is silly.Pick you battles better.