Source: Lisa M. Keefe, MEATINGPLACE, 9/22/17



The Environmental Protection Agency has not held up its end of an agreement with the livestock industry to develop methods for estimating airborne emissions, particularly odors, from farms, EPA’s Office of the Inspector General said in a report.

The agreement, reached in 2005, was intended to provide livestock operations with guidelines for complying with the Clean Air Act and environmental emergency response rules. According to the report, the industry developed emissions data seven years ago but has not released any information on methods for estimating emissions and has only drafted proposals for one-fourth of the pollutants named in the study. And, the agency has no plan for completing the work.

EPA in November will begin requiring livestock farms to report emissions; it has yet to develop guidance and standards for how farmers will be able to fulfill that requirement.

In its response, the agency said it is working on a plan for completing the project by the beginning of the next calendar year.

For more stories, go to www.meatingplace.com.