http://www.commondreams.org/news2007/0516-03.htm
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Public Employees for Environmental
Responsibility (PEER)
Carol Goldberg (202) 265-7337
Manure
Piles Left For Next Administration —
EPA Defers
Factory Farm Water Pollution Rules until February 2009
The
Bush administration has pushed deadlines for new court-ordered water pollution
rules back from this July to February 2009. This action evidences an emerging
trend in the waning months of the Bush second term of putting off addressing
knotty environmental problems until the next administration takes office,
according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).
On
May 4, 2007, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that new rules
to tighten water quality standards for factory farms, otherwise known as
concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), would
be delayed from July 31, 2007 until February 27, 2009, approximately one month
after the next U.S. President is sworn in. This is the second postponement of
the “compliance date” for this new rule. Last year, EPA extended the original
The
new rules are the result a court order won by environmental groups challenging
the first attempt of the Bush administration to promulgate CAFO rules that were
so weak they violated minimal Clean Water Act standards. In 2005, the U.S.
Court of Appeal for the Second Circuit directed that the 2002 Bush rules,
heavily influenced by agriculture industry lobbyists, be tightened to ensure
that water quality is protected from seepage or blowouts of massive lagoons
holding tons of cattle, swine or poultry wastes.
The
stated reason for this second delay is to allow “EPA to respond adequately to
an array of public comments on issues raised in the court decision. The
extensions will also provide time for the agricultural community to adjust to
the new requirements once they are finalized,” according to the agency release.
The
new compliance date, however, is more than a decade after EPA first initiated
its CAFO pollution strategy with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to ensure
that all CAFOs had plans for properly managing
manure, the central weakness cited by the Court in the 2002 rules. In addition,
the new date is more than eight years after EPA first proposed CAFO pollution
control rules.
“What
a lovely parting gift for the next administration,” exclaimed PEER Executive
Director Jeff Ruch, noting that EPA staff members
working on the proposed new rules are unaware of any new complications that
would have justified further delays. “Manure control is hard work but it is not
rocket science.”
Earlier
this week, President Bush announced that he would develop a policy for
addressing automobile-produced emissions contributing to global warming but
leave implementation of that future plan to the next White House.
“We
have now reached the point where the Bush administration is fast running out of
political capital and must carefully pick where they will spend rapidly
diminishing clout,” Ruch added. “Unlike the past two
administrations, there will be no attempt to cement a positive environmental
legacy of any sort.”
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See the EPA press release announcing its second extension of new
CAFO rules
Trace the recent tangled EPA regulatory history on CAFOs
Revisit the CAFO stance taken by then-Texas Gov. Bush
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