According to the EPA, since Big Ag is overburdened with current reporting requirements, this proposed amendment would have factory farms reporting only waste resulting in an “emergency situation.”  

‘Scuse me, but if you ask me, the status quo is an emergency situation.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, factory farms, or CAFOs (Confined Animal Feeding Operations), of which there are approximately 238,000 in the United States, generate more than 500 million tons of annual hazardous waste, or, in layman’s terms, 500 kajillion. Tons. Of waste. Leaching into rivers, streams, the air, our drinking water, our lungs and blood.  Hog, chicken, and cattle waste has polluted 35,000 miles of rivers in 22 states and contaminated groundwater in 17, and been responsible for most of the tainted food outbreaks of the last couple of years. The source of these statistics? The EPA itself. 

What makes this rule deemed due? From the horse’s mouth: “EPA is proposing that these reports are unnecessary because there is no reasonable expectation that Federal, state or local emergency responders would respond to such report(s).”  In other words, the reports just file in uselessly—so why file them at all?  

Fine. I’m not advocating pointless paper-pushing. But I find it outrageous that the EPA is making things easier for factory farms, when it’s meant to be protecting the environment, people, and public health.

No matter how oblivious the EPA wants to be to reports of hazardous waste spewing from factory farms, at least if the farms are reporting them, the information is available to local residents and public record. It’s a slippery slope if these factory farms start keeping even more mum than they already are about their practices, emissions, and filthy habits. 

If you want to comment on the Federal Register before this law comes to pass, email superfund.docket@epa.gov with the subject heading “Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-SFUND-2007-0469.”