WASHINGTON -- Proposed legislation is underway to clarify language regulating livestock manure, including poultry litter, under the so-called 'Superfund laws.'
Bipartisan legislation has been introduced in Congress by Sens. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) and Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) and by Reps. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) and Ralph Hall (R-Texas).
The legislation would clarify animal agriculture operations' responsibilities under two environmental laws -- the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) and the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA). These Superfund laws were originally intended to address hazardous and toxic industrial chemical spills.
The new legislation would clarify that CERCLA industrial and toxic pollutant standards are not applied to livestock operations. It would spell out that livestock emissions -- already regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency through the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act and other laws -- may not be classified as industrial pollutants under CERCLA and EPCRA.
The action has the support of poultry and meat industries.
The National Chicken council notes that the legislation will clarify that chicken litter and other types of animal manure are not hazardous waste under federal law.
"Congress never intended to apply these laws to poultry houses," said Steve Pretanik, NCC director of science and technology. "Poultry manure and poultry litter are simply not hazardous waste."
Pretanik added, "Poultry litter is a natural product that is commonly used as fertilizer for row crops. Farmers follow nutrient management plans to ensure that litter is land-applied in accordance with soil conditions and with the agronomic needs of the crops."
The National Turkey Federation echoed this viewpoint that animal agriculture emissions were never intended to be covered by environmental laws meant for industrial factories.
Additionally said NTF President Joel Brandenberger, "Some courts are misinterpreting Congress' original intent, and this bill makes it clear that these laws do not apply to animal agriculture."
American Meat Institute President J. Patrick Boyle added that "Through a gross distortion of Superfund, special interests are placing America's farmers and ranchers in the bulls eye by trying to lump their operations in with the 1,300 toxic waste sites throughout the country."
He pointed out that when the Superfund law was created more than 25 years ago, it was never intended to be used to address the normal application of animal manure as fertilizer.
In fact, Boyle said, EPA's overview of CERCLA states that the law "established prohibitions and requirements concerning closed and abandoned hazardous waste sites." Farms are not inactive and neither closed nor abandoned, he stated.
The legislation introduced in the House of Representatives is H.R. 1398 and currently has 57 cosponsors. The companion bill introduced in the Senate is S.807 and has eight cosponsors.
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