Assembly Bill 195 – Introduced by JOINT COMMITTEE FOR REVIEW OF ADMINISTRATIVE RULES
Senate Bill 138 – Introduced by JOINT COMMITTEE FOR REVIEW OF ADMINISTRATIVE RULES
Status
Senate Bill 138 was passed by the Senate on February 14, 2012 with a vote of 12-9. It was received by the Assembly and passed by voice vote on February 16, 2012. The Bill will make its way to the Governor's desk to be signed into law.
Summary
Assembly Bill 195 and it's companion, Senate Bill 138, are critical for Wisconsin farmers. This legislation extends the exemption for air emissions from animal agricultural waste from DNR regulation, which is set to expire this summer. This exemption has been in place for a number of years as Wisconsin, and all other states, wait for guidance on this Clean Air Act regulation from the U.S. EPA.
Background
NR 445 Establishes Air Emissions Limitations
DNR rule, NR 445, establishes ambient air standards for specific contaminants for a variety of stationary sources. For purposes of agricultural waste, NR 445 establishes acceptable ambient air concentrations for ammonia and hydrogen sulfide. Under the rule, "agricultural waste" includes livestock manure, animal waste byproducts, litter and bedding. Compliance with the limits of NR 445 is measured at a farm's property line.
Laws Not Designated for Regulation of Farms
When NR 445 was originally written in the 1980's, the Legislature did not intend that the rule would be applied to sources like a farm. Rather, the rule was designed to regulate air emissions from sources that had smokestacks. Due to the threat of a lawsuit against a Wisconsin Dairy farm in 2003 for alleged noncompliance with NR 445, the Wisconsin DNR opened a rulemaking and proposed changes to NR 445 that would regulate air emissions from farms. However, the Legislature nor the DNR were ready to apply these rules to farms because of the complexity of the issue. In 2004, the DNR established final rules for NR 445, requiring livestock farms in Wisconsin to control emissions of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide but it also included an exemption from the regulation of emissions from agricultural waste while federal and state regulatory approaches were further developed.
National Air Emissions Monitoring Study (NAEMS)
A similar federal legal suit propelled the U.S. EPA to determine how to apply the Clean Air Act requirements to livestock farms. The EPA announced a voluntary Air Compliance Agreement and a corresponding air study, NAEMS. Under NAEMS, twenty-four farms in nine states were monitored by the EPA over the past two years. In January 2011, EPA announced that it had gathered all its data from this study but that it had not yet evaluated or published air-emissions estimating methods for use to regulate farms.
Position – SUPPORT