Contact Senators Harkin and Grassley--ask them to oppose the Craig Factory
Farm Rider.
The Craig rider threatens public health in rural communities!
We only have a short time to oppose this amendment and get it out of the
bill before the FY05 Omnibus Appropriations goes to the House and Senate
floor for a vote, probably today for the House and Saturday for the
Senate.
From ICCI:
Senator Craig from Idaho wants to sneak through an amendment which will
exempt Factory Farms from requirements to report toxic chemical releases,
such as ammonia and hydrogen sulfide.
*This amendment is to the full appropriations bill on the Senate Floor.
Senator Craig is trying to sneak a rider into a must-pass spending bill that
would let factory farms off the hook and deny rural communities access to
this critical information.
If this amendment passes, it could hurt our efforts in Iowa, and those
in other states, to hold factory farms accountable for the air pollution
they create. We need to continue to contact Senator Harkin and Senator
Grassley and let them know that this is a bad amendment and they need to
oppose it!
Contact Senators Harkin and Grassley today and ask them to oppose the Craig
amendment! Tell them that you oppose exempting factory farms from toxic
chemical reporting and push for the removal of this rider from the spending
bill.
In Iowa Contact:
Senator Grassley at (202) 224-3744
Web Form: grassley.senate.gov/webform.htm
Senator Harkin at (202) 224-3254
Web Form: harkin.senate.gov/contact/contact.cfm
_____
From the Center for Rural Affairs:
We have been informed that Senator Larry Craig (ID) has been allowed
to include an amendment in the FY05 Omnibus Appropriations bill that would
exempt CAFOs (and other major agricultural emitters of pollution) from the
requirement under the Superfund law and the Community-Right-to-Know-Act to
report hazardous emissions and substances from their operations.
The reporting requirements apply only to total confinement operations (not
to open feedlots) and for dairy cows. These reporting requirements affect
large operations (e.g. over 1,000 dairy cows, large poultry confinement
operations, etc.).
Note that these reporting requirements are public health and emergency
response measures that apply to other businesses emitting hazardous
substances in the community.
We only have a short time to oppose this amendment and get it out of the
bill before the FY05 Omnibus Appropriations goes to the House and Senate
floor for a vote, probably today for the House and Saturday for the
Senate.
Senator Diane Feinstein (CA) is taking the lead in opposing this amendment.
Below is the text of a sign-on letter that several family farm organizations
signed and sent to the VA-HUD-Independent Agencies (EPA) appropriations
subcommittee in September when Senator Craig attempted to
attach the amendment to an appropriations bill. This will help give you some
background on the issue.
We are writing to express our strong opposition to an amendment that we
Senator Craig [has offered] to exempt agricultural operations from existing
laws that require reporting of releases of toxic chemicals.
The amendment would change the definition of "release" in the Comprehensive
Environmental Response, Compensation Liability Act (CERCLA, or Superfund)
and the definition of "hazardous chemical" in the Emergency Planning and
Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA).
Large livestock operations, confining thousands and even hundreds of
thousands of animals, routinely emit large quantities of hazardous
chemicals such as ammonia and hydrogen sulfide into the environment and
nearby communities. Chemical releases from these operations are anything
but diffuse and low-level. Because of the concentration of large numbers of
animals and their waste, chemical releases are also concentrated.
The livestock sector is the largest ammonia contributor nationwide and
produces roughly 73% of all ammonia emissions. Airborne ammonia can be a
significant source of nitrogen pollution to streams. U.S. EPA has documented
emissions of more than 700 tons per year of fine dust particles (PM10) from
a single egg production operation in Ohio. This same facility emitted 4,400
pounds of ammonia per day, roughly 44 times EPA's reporting threshold for
this hazardous substance.
Evidence continues to mount correlating Concentrated Animal Feeding
Operations (CAFO) air emissions with detrimental public health and
environmental impacts. Peer-reviewed studies show air emissions from a
6,000-head hog operation in North Carolina caused increased headaches, sore
throats, excessive coughing, diarrhea, burning eyes, and reduced quality of
life for nearby residents. Another study shows increased eye and upper
respiratory symptoms in residents within two miles of a large hog operation
in Iowa.
In addition to our concerns about public health, we find it completely
inappropriate to use appropriations bills to make substantive amendments to
longstanding environmental protection laws. We ask you to keep this bill
(and all other appropriations bills) free of anti-environmental riders.
Thank you for considering our views.
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