Should Factory Farms be Above the Law?

[Guest guest]

The Environmental Protection Agency

has proposed a rule that would let factory farms get out of reporting

their releases of ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, and other toxic air

pollutants caused by the breakdown of animal manure in massive lagoons.

We have a right to know what toxic chemicals we're being exposed

to.

 

Make Factory Farms report their pollution to EPA.

 

Not surprisingly, this is something agribusiness has been pressuring the

government to do for years. Instead of getting into the fine print

of the proposal, here's a description from a recent

 

Washington Post article that sums it up pretty well:

 

" Under pressure from agriculture industry lobbyists and lawmakers

from agricultural states, the Environmental Protection Agency wants to

drop requirements that factory farms report their emissions of toxic

gases, despite findings by the agency's scientists that the gases pose a

health threat. "

 

One giant dairy in Oregon, home to more than 50,000 cows, reported that

it releases more than 15,000 pounds of toxic ammonia into the air every

day. Often these reports offer the only information neighbors of these

facilities get about what they are being exposed to.

 

The public has a right to know what factory farms are releasing into the

air and EPA has no business letting these polluters off the hook.

Tell EPA that factory farms shouldn't be above the law.

 

 

http://action.foodandwaterwatch.org/t/741/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=23545

 

Thanks for taking action,

Sarah Alexander

Food and Water Watch

food(at)fwwatch.org