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WASHINGTON, D.C.//October 26, 2005//The Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) and U.S. PIRG warned today that an amendment offered by Senator Larry Craig (R-ID) to the Department of Agriculture's annual appropriations legislation that would exempt large livestock operations from having to report annual emissions of ammonia and other noxious substances under federal right-to-know laws.  The amendment has not been debated by either the House or the Senate, nor have any public hearings been scheduled.

Senate conferees reportedly already have approved the Craig amendment; House conferees are expected to vote today to reconcile the House and Senate versions of the Agriculture appropriations bill.

EIP Director Eric Schaeffer said:  "This is special-interest legislation for America's biggest factory farms and will only hurt the small farmers who live next to these giant operations.  Livestock production is heavy industry in some areas of the U.S., and some of the biggest ones are dirtier than oil refineries.  What happens when you mass tens of thousands of animals in closely confined sheds on acreage too small to handle the high volume of hazardous waste?  Not only is the stench often unbearable for the rural neighbors of these factory-scale operations, the resulting emissions of ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, and other pollutants can also be hazardous to human health.  These problems do not arise at smaller family farms, since they do not raise animals on the massive scale of their corporate competitors."

"Toxic pollution is hazardous to public health, whether it comes out of a smokestack or from a factory farm," said US PIRG Staff Attorney Alex Fidis. "Senator Craig's amendment will deny communities their right to know about the hazardous substances released by large industrial farms. This amendment will also withhold the critical information local and state governments need to safely respond to accidents or disasters at these facilities."

Livestock production accounts for nearly three quarters of the ammonia emissions in the U.S., and for some of the biggest sources of this pollutant in the U.S.  Premium Standard Farms measured nearly 3 million pounds of ammonia emissions from the cluster of barns and lagoons at its Somerset facility, making it the fifth largest emitter in the U.S.  This data does not even include the ammonia gases released when liquid manure is sprayed on the company's nearby fields. 

According to the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances Disease Registry: " ...exposure to high levels of ammonia can cause irritation and serious burns on the skin and in the mouth, throat, lungs, and eyes.... Lung damage and death may occur after exposure to very high concentrations of ammonia."  Ammonia is not the only pollutant of concern. 

In 2002, a joint study by Iowa State University and the University of Iowa found that exposure to hydrogen sulfide emissions from livestock operations can cause nausea, headaches, and life threatening pulmonary edema.  At least seven people in the state of Minnesota have died since 1992 after exposure to hydrogen sulfide in animal waste pits.

Federal right-to-know laws require factory farms to annually report on their emissions of ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, and certain other pollutants.  The industry has tried to argue that it lacks the information needed to monitor its air pollution, but companies like Premium Standards Farms and (more recently) Tyson Foods have demonstrated that air pollution can be measured at factory farms at least as easily as it has been for years at refineries, chemical plants, and other more complex operations.  Companies that document their emissions are more likely to clean them up -- both PSF and Tyson have taken steps to reduce ammonia to resolve violations of their reporting requirements.

Senator Craig's requirement would exempt factory farms from their duty to report emissions under federal right-to-know laws.  The Center for Responsive Politics reports that agribusiness contributed nearly half a million dollars toward Senator Craig's reelection in 2002.  If Senator Craig can help corporate agriculture hide its air pollution from its neighbors, he will have repaid their investment with interest.

ABOUT THE GROUPS

The Environmental Integrity Project (http://www.environmentalintegrity.org) is a non-profit non-partisan organization dedicated to stronger enforcement of existing federal and state anti-pollution laws, and to the prevention of political interference with those laws. EIP's research and reports shed light on how enforcement and rulemaking affect public health. EIP also works closely with communities seeking enforcement of environmental laws.

U.S. PIRG is the national advocacy office for the state Public Interest Research Groups. State PIRGs are nonprofit, nonpartisan public interest advocacy groups.

Contact:  Patrick Mitchell, for EIP, (703) 276-3266 or pmitchell@hastingsgroup.com; and Alex Fidis, for U.S. PIRG, (202) 546-9707 ext. 323, or afidis@pirg.org.

Click here to read the full text of the Craig Amendment