August 28, 2006

EPA to begin studying emissions from feeding operations

The United States' Environmental Protection Agency said it would now begin its second phase of gathering air emissions data from farming operations.

In this next step, the agency would work with animal feeding operations ( AFOs) nationwide to evaluate air emissions. 

Up until now, the lack of air emissions data to set regulatory requirements under the Clean Air Act (CAA) made enforcement and regulations difficult. Thus, negotiations were started with AFOs in 2001 to gain feedback on emissions and proposed standards.

The culmination of these efforts was an EPA Federal Register notice in 2005, offering AFOs an opportunity to be involved in a comprehensive study to monitor air emissions.

The voluntary agreements comes to a total of 2,568. 1,856 swine, 468 dairy, 204 egg-laying and 40 broiler-chicken operations were involved and more than 6,000 farms were represented.

The survey is expected to begin this winter. The EPA would then evaluate and publish the data on emission-estimating methods for AFOs at the conclusion of the study.

These methods would allow AFOs to estimate their emissions and enable them to seek compliance with federal requirements, EPA said.