NCBA calls bull on farms labeled highly toxic Superfund sites

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) has kicked off a media campaign aimed at spotlighting and correcting a recent court decision that will require livestock producers to comply with laws that are only meant to apply to highly toxic Superfund sites.

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) was enacted to provide for cleanup of the worst industrial chemical toxic waste dumps and spills, such as oil spills and chemical tank explosions. The Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) was enacted to ensure that parties who emit hazardous chemicals submit reports to their local emergency responders to allow for more effective planning for chemical emergencies.  Neither of these laws was ever intended to govern agricultural operations, for whom emissions from livestock are a part of everyday life.

Unfortunately, in April 2017, the D.C. Circuit Court vacated the EPA’s 2008 exemption, putting nearly 200,000 farms and ranches under the regulatory reporting authorities enshrined in CERCLA and EPCRA. The new reporting requirements could go into effect as soon as Jan. 22.

“This is just another example of radical environmental groups using the courts to wildly distort the original Congressional intent behind legislation,” said NCBA President and Nebraska cattleman Craig Uden. “Unless this ridiculous situation is fixed, agricultural producers will soon have their operations treated like toxic Superfund sites, and government agencies like the U.S. Coast Guard will be inundated with unnecessary questions and reports.”

NCBA’s issue campaign kicked off with a new online video featuring the group’s Chief Environmental Counsel, Scott Yager. In the video, Yager dons a yellow hazmat suit and explains the issue at an actual toxic Superfund site near Fredericksburg, Virginia. He then shows the contrast between the contaminated Superfund site and a cattle farm in nearby Louisa County, Virginia, that would likely have to comply with the new reporting requirements.