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Coalition asks EPA to regulate GHG from farms

September 25, 2009,
Washington, DC – The Humane Society of the United States and a coalition of
environmental and public health organizations recently filed a legal petition
with the Environmental Protection Agency seeking to regulate air pollution from
factory farms.


September 25, 2009,
Washington, DC – The Humane Society of the United States and a coalition of
environmental and public health organizations recently filed a legal petition
with the Environmental Protection Agency seeking to regulate air pollution from
factory farms.

The petitioners joining
the HSUS include the Association of Irritated Residents; the Center on Race,
Poverty and the Environment; the Clean Air Task Force; the Dairy Education
Alliance; El Comité para el Bienestar de Earlimart; the Environmental Integrity
Project; Friends of the Earth; and the Waterkeeper Alliance.

“Unregulated air pollution
from massive factory farms has a devastating impact on human health and the
environment,” stated Jonathan Lovvorn, vice president and chief counsel for animal protection litigation and research at the HSUS, in a press release. “The
EPA should hold these big agribusiness corporations accountable for the
enormous harm they are inflicting on local communities, independent family
farmers and the environment.”

The 69-page petition
provides detailed scientific and legal information about the significant
emissions of methane and nitrous oxide — two greenhouse gases — as well as
hydrogen sulfide and ammonia from factory farms, and how all of these
pollutants have been shown to have negative effects on human health and
welfare, including adverse effects on climate and the environment in the United
States.

The petition further
explains how reducing emissions of major pollutants from concentrated animal
feeding operations (CAFOs) will improve human health, reduce suffering of farm
animals, protect habitat for wildlife and reduce the effects of climate change
and other environmental problems.