The Bush administration has sneaked another rule into the deregulation books. This one definitely passes the smell test.
The rule:
Poultry and livestock farmers no longer have to report emissions from animal waste.
The Environmental Protection Agency said the rule change would “enable authorities to better focus their attention on hazardous substance releases that require a response, while reducing reporting burdens on America’s farms.”
It said reports from farms on air emissions involving ammonia and hydrogen sulfide — animal urine and feces — exceeding certain levels rarely were acted upon.
A Government Accounting Office study said such farms can generate as much as 1.6 million tons of manure annually — more than one and a half times the waste produced each year by the city of Philadelphia.
And, to think W.C. Fields had inscribed on his tombstone, “I’d Rather Be In Philadelphia.”
cross posted on The Remmers Report
Jerry Remmers worked 26 years in the newspaper business. His last 23 years was with the Evening Tribune in San Diego where assignments included reporter, assistant city editor, county and politics editor.