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Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia granted EPA’s motion for a further stay of its April 11, 2017 decision, which will end the 2008 manure air emission exemption, and trigger air emission reports under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). Additional information is available on the EPA website.
As a result of today’s court decision no manure air emission reports will be due until at least January 22, 2018. The plaintiff, the Waterkeeper Alliance, had asked the court to immediately require reports. Importantly, the court also did not grant the plaintiff’s request to require reporting under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) section 304.
NMPF reports it will continue to work with their animal agriculture partners, EPA and Congress to find a permanent solution to the misguided requirement to report manure-based continuous ammonia and hydrogen sulfide emissions. PRO-DAIRY will work with NMPF to provide unified guidance and advice as to how to quantify emissions and how to file reports in early January 2018, should such filing be necessary.
In addition, those farms that are in compliance with their National Air Emissions Monitoring Study (NAEMS) consent agreement will not have to file any reports until such time as EPA completes its work under NAEMS; this is likely to be at least a year away, if not further. Farmers who are not sure if they signed up for the program can contact PRO-DAIRY, and we will work with NMPF to determine if they participated in the consent agreement.
Happy Thanksgiving, Karl and Curt
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