The EPA has just announced a proposed rule change that would exempt large livestock operators from the need to report releases of hazardous substances to the air when they come from animal waste. Under the proposed rules, they would no longer need to disclose hazards like ammonia and hydrogen sulfide to local, state and federal agencies. The EPA argues that this approach is “better” for reporting hazardous contamination because farms are burdened with current reporting requirements.

But in a recent response, Ed Hopkins, Director of the Sierra Club’s Environmental Quality Program wrote, “Once again Bush’s EPA is poised to put polluters before public health. EPA’s new proposal would let factory farms off the hook for releasing hazardous chemicals into our air- exempting these large livestock operations from even the most basic of pollution laws.”

Factory farms dump 500 million tons of animal waste per year, pollution that leaches into rivers and streams, fouls the air and spreads disease. According to Virginia Tech’s, research air pollution from ammonia is a primary concern as ammonia binds to other air particles, forming particulates that can penetrate deep into the lungs.