Reply #73: Sierra Club - Factory Farms [View All]

[Catchawave]

...more great info here:

http://www.sierraclub.org/factoryfarms/

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February 9, 2005
The Bush Administration announced a deal that lets massive factory farms off the hook for any violations of air and toxic pollution right-to-know laws, while communities near these facilities wait in vain for relief. The fact is that rural families have been suffering from toxic pollution caused by factory farms for years. This "backroom" deal forces communities to wait for relief, while polluters are let off the hook.

In exchange, a handful of the massive factory farms will have their air emissions monitored. The fact is that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) already has the ability under the Clean Air Act to get this information from the polluters and doesn't need to give them a special "get out of jail free" card in order to find out about their emissions.

What is most disturbing is that the deal was created by the polluters and for the polluters. Industry lobbyists approached the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the fall of 2001 with their own proposal, and the administration's final deal closely mirrors the polluters' wish list. What's more, leaked electronic mail correspondence revealed the frequent and close access that polluters had to the administration: from private monthly meetings, to the chance to draft presentations for EPA officials to deliver. Read Sierra Club's press release, and find out more about this secret deal.


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