The Nebraska Farm Bureau is hailing the introduction of the Fair Agricultural Reporting Method or FARM Act. Farm Bureau National Affairs Coordinator Jordan Dux says the measure sponsored by Nebraska Senator Deb Fischer restores exemptions to livestock operations from reporting emissions.

Prior to a court ruling last spring, livestock operations were exempt from emissions reporting under CERCLA or Superfund rules. That court ruling however threw those exemptions out. Dux says the FARM Act should be able to withstand any court challenge to restoration of those exemptions.

Dux thinks the FARM Act has a very good chance of passing both the Senate and House once it comes up for a vote.

Without the fix provided by the FARM Act, as many as 200,000 farms and ranches would be required to report their daily emissions or face fines of up to $ 54,000 per day as well as the threat of activist lawsuits for failure to report.