EPA ends 20-year air pollution study, abandons factory farm enforcement
The agency announced it will cease efforts to regulate livestock facilities under the Clean Air Act, effectively ending enforcement.
What to know
- The EPA announced October 30 it is ending a 20-plus-year effort to develop air pollution monitoring methods for concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), effectively ceasing Clean Air Act enforcement at factory farms.
- Since adopting the Air Consent Agreement in 2005, the EPA failed to produce emissions measurement methodologies, despite a 2017 Inspector General report faulting the agency for slow-walking the process.
- Livestock facilities emit fine particulate matter, ammonia, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, and volatile organic compounds; research links these emissions to nearly 12,700 deaths annually in the U.S.
- The Trump administration and Congress have also gutted reporting requirements for CAFOs under Superfund and EPCRA laws, eliminating multiple regulatory tools simultaneously.
Environmental Protection Agency RegulatorTarah Heinzen Legal director, Food & Water WatchLivestock industry Subject of regulation
How it unfolded 1 development · click the chart to see its coverage articlesposts
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Coverage highlights EPA abandonment of factory farm pollution enforcement
Reporting and social posts amplify criticism that the EPA is effectively abandoning Clean Air Act enforcement at factory farms, citing the agency's failure to produce emissions measurement tools and dismantling of reporting requirements.
“As EPA has been saying it's proceeding with this plan, it's been dismantling all of its own tools to regulate emissions. Now it has announced it has no intention, basically, of ever holding factory farms accountable under the Clean Air Act, either.”
— Tarah Heinzen, Legal director, Food & Water Watch · source -
first by Ars Technica, 5d ago
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Trump EPA is effectively abandoning Clean Air Act enforcement at factory farms. What a racket 12,700 deaths in US a year from pollution from factory farms And EPA decides to protect the polluters not the people or environment
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background
EPA announces end to National Air Emissions Monitoring Study — The EPA announced it would end its 20-plus-year effort to develop methods to monitor air pollution from factory farms, shuttering attempts to regulate CAFOs under the Clean Air Act. The announcement came days before midterm elections and was characterized by the agency as relief for farmers.
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background
EPA Inspector General faults agency for slow-walking emissions study — The EPA's Office of Inspector General issued a report criticizing the agency for failing to produce emissions estimating methodologies despite over a decade of the Air Consent Agreement being in place.
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EPA crafts Air Consent Agreement with livestock industry — The EPA and livestock industry groups created the Air Consent Agreement, granting thousands of CAFOs safe harbor from legal action in exchange for participation in a study meant to develop air emissions measurement tools.