EPA Ends Decades-Long Effort to Monitor Factory Farm Air Pollution

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on October 30 that it is ending a more than 20-year effort to develop methods for monitoring air pollution from factory farms, as Ars Technica first reported. The move effectively terminates the agency's attempts to regulate concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) under the Clean Air Act.

For over two decades, the EPA operated under the Air Consent Agreement, a deal established in 2005 with the livestock industry. Under this agreement, thousands of CAFOs were granted safe harbor from legal action in exchange for participating in an industry-funded study known as the National Air Emissions Monitoring Study. The objective was to create scientifically sound tools and models that would allow farms to determine if their emissions required permits under the Clean Air Act or notifications under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA).

However, the EPA failed to produce any emissions estimating methodologies during the agreement's tenure. Ars Technica notes that the agency's own Office of Inspector General issued a report in 2017 criticizing the EPA for slow-walking the process.

In justifying the decision to end the effort, Abigale Tardif, acting assistant administrator for the EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation, stated that the data from the original study is now too old and limited to support reliable methods, noting that many farms have since modernized their manure systems and barns. Rob Brenneman, president of the National Pork Producers Council, backed the decision, noting that no "one-size-fits-all model" exists that can be applied to every farm.

Critics argue the decision is a failure of enforcement. Tarah Heinzen, legal director for Food & Water Watch, told Ars Technica that while the Clean Air Act still technically requires permits for facilities exceeding emissions thresholds, the EPA has signaled it has no intention of holding factory farms accountable. Heinzen pointed out that alternative models for livestock emissions already exist, citing California as an example of a state that uses such models to enforce air regulations.

The pollution from these facilities—which includes ammonia, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, volatile organic compounds, and fine particulate matter—is linked to nearly 12,700 deaths in the U.S. annually. While the livestock industry remains the largest source of methane in the United States, Ars Technica reports that the Air Compliance Agreement did not extend to methane emissions.