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Farm Bureau urging member action

by Natalie Walston

Environmentalists are putting pressure on lawmakers on an issue that could negatively affect livestock producers. They want manure to be treated as toxic or hazardous waste that resulted in such environmental problems as Love Canal and the burning of the Cuyahoga River.

OFBF members are urged to contact their members of the U.S. House and Senate and urge them to cosponsor a bill that clarifies that manure is not considered a hazardous substance or pollutant.

H.R. 4341 would amend the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA, commonly known as Superfund) to exempt manure.

"Superfund was enacted to clean up areas contaminated by toxic substances. Congress never intended to lump animal manure in that category because it's been used as a beneficial fertilizer for centuries," said David White, OFBF's senior director of policy research and development and executive director of the Ohio Livestock Coalition.

He added that passage of the CERCLA exemption bill would not exempt farmers from their obligation to protect the environment because they follow the laws contained in the Clean Water and Clean Air acts.

Adam Sharp, OFBF senior director of national and regulatory affairs, said, at print time, the legislation currently has 190 cosponsors in the House of Representatives; an identical bill (S.3681) has 33 cosponsors in the Senate.

"We need more legislators to step up to the plate and support this bill," Sharp said.

Sharp said OFBF appreciates the hard work Rep. Paul Gillmor, R-Ohio, Environment and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee chair, has undertaken on the bill.

"We hope that Gillmor and other Ohio members will cosponsor this legislation and work towards passage in Congress in lame duck sessions," he said.

As of print time, Ohio's two Republican Sens. Mike DeWine and George Voinovich are not listed as cosponsors. Republicans Michael Oxley, Ralph Regula, Jean Schmidt and Patrick Tiberi are supporting the bill in the House.

The call for action comes at a time when court suits have been filed in Texas and Oklahoma seeking compensation for cleanup costs, alleging that animal manure constitutes a pollutant under Superfund. Sharp said historically, the Superfund law has never been used to impose cleanup costs on agricultural producers or related industries.

"The House and Senate bills would clarify that the Superfund was never intended to impose liability costs due to the use of manure in agricultural operations," Sharp said.