EPA Asks Court to Stay Challenge Of Livestock Air Emissions Lawsuit

EPA has asked a federal court to stay litigation challenging agency guidance that exempts livestock operations from reporting releases of hazardous air emissions to local and state emergency officials. The agency contends the case should be put on hold while it works on a rule that will expand the exemption and make it permanent. The request is unlikely to satisfy environmentalists who have long been frustrated with EPA’s bid to shield livestock operations from the reporting requirements of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA). A federal appeals court in 2017 sided with environmentalists and blocked a 2008 rule that exempted most Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations from EPCRA. The move prompted the Trump administration to issue new guidance last year that went further than the 2008 rule, exempting all farms from the EPCRA requirements. In March 2018, Congress amended the Superfund law with language in an omnibus spending bill to expressly exempt air emissions from animal waste at farms from that statute's reporting requirements. EPA in April 2018 issued a second guidance document reiterating the exemption for livestock operations from EPCRA. On Oct. 1, the Center for Food Safety, Food & Water Watch and others filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia challenging both sets of guidance. The groups argue the agency's actions violated federal administrative law, alleging the two guidance documents essentially constitute a legislative rule that requires public notice and comment. The groups filed a motion for summary judgment on Oct. 29, arguing that EPA's rulemaking through "guidance" – without notice and comment – "flouts basic tenets" of administrative law. In its Nov. 30 filing with the court, EPA says the legal landscape has changed, noting that it has released a proposed rule to finalize the EPCRA exemption. The proposal was published Nov. 14 in the Federal Register, and EPA intends to take comments through Dec. 14.