Farm Bureau Strongly Supports DNR’s Decision to Delay Ag Emissions Rule

Thursday, February 28, 2008 2:17 PM CST

The Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation strongly supports Wednesday’s decision by the state’s Natural Resources Board to delay the implementation of an air emissions rule regarding agricultural waste until July 31, 2011.

“The Farm Bureau greatly appreciates this action by the board,” explained Jeff Lyon, Farm Bureau’s director of governmental relations. “Although much work is being done to further the understanding of air emissions, without finalized air emissions studies at the federal and state levels it would be premature to set any new standards.”

“The Farm Bureau contends it is vitally important to maintain consistent regulations for livestock producers in Wisconsin who must compete in a national and global market” Lyon added.

In the spring of 2004, a state rule known as NR 445, which regulates hazardous pollutants, was amended to include a three-year exemption from permitting requirements for emissions associated with agricultural waste. Farm Bureau and other agricultural groups have requested that another extension is needed to complete research underway on establishing air emission testing.

Farm Bureau contends that NR 445 was not developed for the purpose of regulating emissions associated with agricultural waste and that on-farm best management practices are the preferred approach to controlling these emissions.

At the time the agricultural waste revisions were made, the rationale for providing the three-year exemption was that there were initiatives underway at both the federal and state levels to develop an approach for emissions associated with agricultural waste. These initiatives included various studies to assess the existence, magnitude and extent of air emissions from agricultural waste and the effectiveness of certain practices at reducing such emissions.

Since the enactment of revisions to NR 445, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and segments of the livestock industry have developed a national consent agreement regarding the development of emission estimation methodologies and have also begun an extensive monitoring study of air emissions from animal feeding operations, which is projected to be completed in 2011.

In addition, the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) implemented the Livestock Air Emission and Odor Project in June of 2006. Six Wisconsin livestock operations are being studied as a part of this project. One of these farms is also a study site for EPA’s National Air Emission Monitoring Study. The field work on this study began in late 2006 and will continue through this year.

“Although much work has been done to further the understanding of air emissions associated with agricultural waste, neither the EPA nor the DATCP have finalized air emissions studies on livestock operations,” Lyon said. “As a result, best management practices that will address air emissions associated with agricultural waste are still in development at both the state and federal levels.”

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