The Environmental Protection Agency has issued guidance to livestock producers and is expected to get more time to educate them on the manure emission reporting requirement, after losing a court petition to allow a farm exemption. The Washington, D.C. federal appeals court insists, the law’s the law, even when it comes to livestock waste. Michael Formica with the National Pork Producers Council argues, the whole thing ‘stinks’…
He says its difficult for hog farmers, cattle ranchers or other livestock producers to tell when they’re in violation.
Formica says the National Response Center has 17 employees who handle 30,000 calls a year. Suddenly, they’ll have another 100,000-some calls, not about oil or chemical spills or rail car explosions, but about manure smells. Formica claims the Coast Guard and EPA want nothing to do with the new rule. But he says failure to comply could mean fines or lawsuits by neighbors or the Humane Society.
