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Trump’s EPA Will Abandon Efforts to Limit Air Pollution From Factory Farms
The EPA says it will end a more than 20-year effort to develop methods for measuring air pollution from factory farms, closing off a route towards regulating them under the Clean Air Act. The agency framed the decision as relief for farmers, while environmental advocates said it leaves the facilities with little prospect of being held accountable for their emissions.
Concentrated animal feeding operations can release fine particles, ammonia, nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide and volatile organic compounds from animal waste. A 2005 agreement gave thousands of farms protection from legal action while an industry-funded study sought to develop measurement tools, but the EPA never produced the promised methods; its inspector general criticised delays in 2017. Research cited in the article estimates that emissions from these facilities contribute to nearly 12,700 deaths in the United States each year, while reporting duties under other pollution laws have also been cut back.
In short
- The EPA is ending its factory-farm air pollution measurement effort.
- Promised emissions methods were never produced.
- Research links these emissions to nearly 12,700 US deaths a year.
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The case for
Ending the effort could spare farmers from uncertain or costly requirements based on measurement methods the EPA has not managed to produce in more than two decades. Supporters may argue that farms already face substantial regulatory and economic pressures, and that any future rules should rest on reliable evidence and workable standards rather than an unfinished process.
The case against
Abandoning the work removes a potential route to measuring and addressing pollution from large livestock operations, even though research links their emissions to serious health harms. Critics may argue that the EPA’s long delay is a reason to complete credible measurement methods, not to end the effort, so communities and regulators can assess emissions and apply pollution protections fairly.
Explained simply
Factory farms, formally known as concentrated animal feeding operations, keep large numbers of animals in confined spaces. Their waste can release pollutants such as fine particles, ammonia and gases that affect air quality.
The US Clean Air Act gives the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) a role in controlling air pollution. Measuring emissions from farms is one step needed to assess whether and how that law applies to them.
In 2005, the EPA agreed to shield thousands of farms from legal action while a study funded by the industry worked on ways to measure their emissions. The agency did not produce the promised methods, and its inspector general criticised delays in 2017.
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