HYDE-SMITH SUPPORTS BILL TO STOP BURDENSOME AG ODOR REPORTING REQUIREMENT
Biden’s EPA Eyes Eliminating Exemption that Protects Farms, Ranches from Reporting Animal Waste Air Emissions
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) has cosponsored legislation to ensure Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) does not impose burdensome animal waste odor reporting requirements on family farmers and ranchers.
Hyde-Smith is an original cosponsor of S.2430, a bill introduced by U.S. Senator Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) to codify the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) exemption for reporting air emissions from animal waste at farms. It would also ensure that emergency first responders are not inundated with unnecessary reporting.
“Animal odors do not constitute a public health emergency and shouldn’t be subjected to EPCRA reporting,” Hyde-Smith said. “Family farmers and ranchers already operate on thin margins financially, and they don’t need President Biden’s enthusiasm for federal regulations to make their lives harder for something that isn’t a problem.”
“The last thing producers need are more government regulations. And first responders, who deal with real public safety emergencies every day, don’t need to be inundated with irrelevant reports. My bill would make permanent the previous administration’s reporting exemption under EPCRA for animal waste emissions. Rural America doesn’t need Washington bureaucrats pushing through more rules that burden producers and provide no value to local emergency planning commissions,” said Fischer.
EPCRA requires reporting releases of hazardous substances so that federal, state, and local officials can evaluate the need for an emergency response to mitigate the effects of the release to the community. EPA has long exempted air emissions from animal waste at farms from EPCRA reporting requirements, but in March announced a proposed rule that could reverse this exemption.
Additional cosponsors include U.S. Senators Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-Kan.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), John Thune (R-S.D.), Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), and Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.).
S.2430 has been endorsed by the American Farm Bureau Federation, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, U.S. Poultry and Egg Association, United Egg Producers, National Pork Producers Council, National Turkey Federation, National Chicken Council, and National Association of SARA Title III Program Officials (NASTTPO).
The text of S.2430 is available here.
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