House Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell (D-MI) is concerned about the US EPA's controversial proposal to exempt concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) from federal reporting requirements, particularly with regard to requirements under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation & Liability Act (CERCLA) and the Emergency Planning & Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA). He could use the oversight capacity of the committee force EPA to comply with the law. Industry officials are reiterating long-standing arguments that CERCLA and EPCRA were intended to address industrial operations, not agricultural operations. Environmentalists are arguing that the EPA is ignoring the intent of those laws and that they are exempting large sources of harmful water and air emissions, particularly ammonia and hydrogen sulfide (H2S). |
