WASHINGTON, DC: The United States Congress included in the 2018 Omnibus bill a renewed exemption for farmers from the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). CERCLA requires private entities and individuals to report instances of releasing hazardous substances to the EPA, and the exemption for farmers was challenged in court in 2017. Congressman Andy Harris, M.D. (MD-01) – a cosponsor of the Agricultural Certainty for Reporting Emissions Act – issued the following statement in support of this exemption:
“While the 2018 omnibus was a deeply flawed bill, I applaud the inclusion of a renewed exemption for farmers from the burdensome regulations of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). Restoring this exemption protects farmers from the reporting requirements imposed on larger entities that release hazardous substances in significant quantities. As a cosponsor of the bipartisan Agricultural Certainty for Reporting Emissions Act, I recognize that the farmers in Maryland’s First District should be allowed to focus on their work instead of jumping through bureaucratic hoops.”
I’m confident Congressman Harris or someone on his staff follows this blog. I would appreciate an answer here on his specific thoughts regarding how this impacts the public’s need to be protected from the proven detrimental effects of CAFOs on air and water quality and related proven carcinogens from said operations. I fear that this broad brush exemption will allow CAFOs to run roughshod over residents of poor rural communities where the industrial operations are locating. They are FACTORIES, not farms.
I’m confident Congressman Harris or someone on his staff follows this blog. I would appreciate an answer here on his specific thoughts regarding how this impacts the public’s need to be protected from the proven detrimental effects of CAFOs on air and water quality and related proven carcinogens from said operations. I fear that this broad brush exemption will allow CAFOs to run roughshod over residents of poor rural communities where the industrial operations are locating. They are FACTORIES, not farms.
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