27 April 2005
EPA To Target Farming Operations
Regulatory Chickens Coming Home to Roost
This has GOT to be chilling to SD's practitioners of agricultural arts and sciences. The EPA, those great folks who have aready gone after farmers in the context of the Endangered Species Act, are now unlimbering a new club - one which can also prove to set up potentially any and all farmers and ranchers into a sort of dairy operation: turning them into cash cows for the government.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is turning its attention from factory emissions to farmers and ranchers, with uncertain consequences for livestock operations in South Dakota.
A two-year study begun earlier this year aims to determine how badly livestock producers pollute the air.
Hmmm. One has to wonder how much sympathy for PETA there might be in the bureaucratic depths of the EPA.
After the study is complete, the EPA will start cracking down on livestock production emissions ....It also could fine farmers for past violations, even though nobody knows exactly what constitutes a violation yet...
Help me out legal minds...if no one knows what the violation standards are, how can one be fined for past violations...what about ex post facto?
And then there is this cute little deal:
Producers of swine, poultry or dairy can protect themselves from liability as far back as 2002 by signing the voluntary Air Quality Compliance Agreement.
The agreement's cost - a one-time fee of $200 to $500 - will pay for the EPA's farm pollution study. Livestock producers have until July 1 to sign, Nicolai said. Signing is not an admission of guilt for prior violations.
Yeah, right.
"Anytime you can get five years of protection for about $100 a year, that's a good deal," Thaler said. "What would lawyers cost for that same amount of time?"
Hmmm. Pay a little now, to avoid problems with enforcers later on...sound familiar to anyone? (Hey buddy, you cough up for our protective "insurance" now, and we'll make sure you're protected from someone coming in some day and shooting you in the knee! Capiche?)
Ron Steineke, who raises hogs near Hartford, said he has not heard enough information to decide whether he should sign. And he questioned whether livestock should be regulated like factories."That's probably kind of a reach," he said.
Now THERE's a major understatement!
This has GOT to be chilling to SD's practitioners of agricultural arts and sciences. The EPA, those great folks who have aready gone after farmers in the context of the Endangered Species Act, are now unlimbering a new club - one which can also prove to set up potentially any and all farmers and ranchers into a sort of dairy operation: turning them into cash cows for the government.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is turning its attention from factory emissions to farmers and ranchers, with uncertain consequences for livestock operations in South Dakota.
A two-year study begun earlier this year aims to determine how badly livestock producers pollute the air.
Hmmm. One has to wonder how much sympathy for PETA there might be in the bureaucratic depths of the EPA.
After the study is complete, the EPA will start cracking down on livestock production emissions ....It also could fine farmers for past violations, even though nobody knows exactly what constitutes a violation yet...
Help me out legal minds...if no one knows what the violation standards are, how can one be fined for past violations...what about ex post facto?
And then there is this cute little deal:
Producers of swine, poultry or dairy can protect themselves from liability as far back as 2002 by signing the voluntary Air Quality Compliance Agreement.
The agreement's cost - a one-time fee of $200 to $500 - will pay for the EPA's farm pollution study. Livestock producers have until July 1 to sign, Nicolai said. Signing is not an admission of guilt for prior violations.
Yeah, right.
"Anytime you can get five years of protection for about $100 a year, that's a good deal," Thaler said. "What would lawyers cost for that same amount of time?"
Hmmm. Pay a little now, to avoid problems with enforcers later on...sound familiar to anyone? (Hey buddy, you cough up for our protective "insurance" now, and we'll make sure you're protected from someone coming in some day and shooting you in the knee! Capiche?)
Ron Steineke, who raises hogs near Hartford, said he has not heard enough information to decide whether he should sign. And he questioned whether livestock should be regulated like factories."That's probably kind of a reach," he said.
Now THERE's a major understatement!
