Posted on Mon, Jan. 30, 2006
Deal lets big farms skirt pollution finesJOHN HEILPRIN
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration will let thousands of factory-style farms escape severe
penalties for fouling the air and water with animal excrement in exchange for data to help curb
future pollution.
The Environmental Protection Agency has signed agreements with 2,681 animal feeding operations
in the egg, chicken, turkey, dairy and hog industries. They would be exempt from having to pay
potential fines of up to $27,500 a day for violations either in the past or over the next four years.
<snip>
The EPA said its consent agreements with the animal feeding operations will cover more than
6,700 farms in 42 states. Another 7,000 farms are covered through Tyson Foods Inc., but because
contract growers are independent business owners, the company said only that it will gain the
exemptions.
<snip>
Already, environmentalists plan to file suit challenging the new consent arrangements.
"This decision is a great disservice for people who live around large factory farms," said
Ed Hopkins, environmental quality director for the Sierra Club. "It basically gives these farms
a free ride on the backs of the public. There's really nothing in this that holds the polluters
accountable for the toxic air emissions they release."
<snip>
Full article:
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/13750495.htm
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