The National Pork Producers Council, the American Farm Bureau Federation, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the U.S. Poultry and Egg Association recently joined the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in asking a federal court to dismiss a lawsuit seeking a broad interpretation of the requirements for reporting emissions from animal waste.

Animal and environmental activist groups sued EPA in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia over a section of the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act that exempts livestock and poultry farmers from reporting routine air emissions from animal waste. EPCRA requires certain entities to notify state and local authorities, including first responders, about accidental spills and releases of hazardous materials and chemicals.

The law initially exempted livestock and poultry farmers from reporting, but a 2017 court decision rejected the exemption. In 2018, Congress approved the Fair Agricultural Reporting Method Act, which reinstated the exclusion. Activist groups challenged EPA’s regulation implementing the FARM Act.

The agricultural organizations cited EPA’s reasoning for exempting agriculture from the reporting requirements: Farm emissions might exceed thresholds that would trigger responses under EPCRA, but such responses would be “unnecessary, impractical and unlikely.” Agitating a manure pit, for example, could result in the release of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide in amounts that exceed reportable levels, but the gases would dissipate quickly, so no response would be warranted.

Related:Farm Progress America, Dec. 12, 2024

NPPC notes, if livestock producers were subject to EPCRA reporting, they would be required to estimate the emissions of certain gases. However, EPA has yet to finalize reliable, scientifically sound estimating methodologies that accurately represent the air emissions from animal manure at modern livestock farms. Additionally, farmers could be subject to liabilities resulting from differing interpretations of the information called for in the emissions reports, exposing them to potential civil penalties or litigation.