Environmental Law Tradeoffs for Ag

by Levi Russell

Tiffany Dowell at Texas A&M has a great, concise blog post about a recent circuit court decision that will undoubtedly increase costs associated with environmental regulation of farms. As usual, I encourage you to read the entire post, but here's an excerpt:

Environmental groups, led by Waterkeeper Alliance, argued that CERCLA and EPCRA do not allow the EPA to exempt anyone from reporting requirements if there are releases over the statutory reportable quantity.  Further, the environmental groups claim that the rule is arbitrary in treating waste on farms differently than similar waste in other places, such as at a zoo or a slaughterhouse, which would not be exempted from reporting.  On the other side, the National Pork Producers Council also filed suit, albeit for a very different reason.  The Council claimed that the CAFO exception is not allowed because it was based upon the public’s desire for information, rather than based upon the purpose for which the statute was enacted–facilitating emergency response.

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Now that the rule containing the farm exemption is no longer in place, under federal law, farms that may emit hazardous substances from animal waste above the threshold amount are legally required to report such emissions.   One major problem, which was noted by the court, is that there has been no determination of how these emissions should be measured.  It is unclear how farmers are expected to know whether their emissions are above reportable quantity, or how they are to measure them for reporting.  It may be that some operations can simply file an annual notice of continuous release if the releases are “continuous and stable in amount and rate.”  Hopefully, the EPA will offer some additional guidance documents in light of this ruling.  Operations for which this may be an issue should consult with their attorney to determine what steps to take.

A few things to note here:

1. The exemption was not for large animal feeding operations, it was for regular farms. With that exemption gone, farmers will be subject to significant regulatory uncertainty and cost.

2. That uncertainty and cost will fall disproportionately on small farmers. While this type of regulation will apply to larger farms, it will be difficult, at least in the short run, to know exactly where the threshold is. How many cows/hogs/chickens/etc does it take to create 100 pounds per day of ammonia or hydrogen sulfide? It will also complicate investment decisions for small farmers.

3. There's clearly an industry concentration vs environmental quality tradeoff here. A public concerned with the continued existence of the "family farm" would be smart to consider this tradeoff.

4. Tiffany notes that public comment played a role in the circuit court's decision, implying that interested parties can have some say in the regulatory process, at least when regulations are challenged in the courts. I suspect this will be a losing battle for ag in the future if the public continues to grow more concerned about these issues.