What is the USEPA Air Quality Consent Agreement and how does it affect me?

The Air Quality Consent Agreement (Consent Agreement) is the result of lawsuits led by the Sierra Club and others that claimed farming operations discharge harmful contaminants and should not be exempt from environmental regulations.  Traditionally, regulations, such as the Clean Air Act ( CAA ), have been applied to “smoke stack industries.”  However, courts recently ruled that the CAA and other environmental regulations do apply to farming operations.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (USEPA) Consent Agreement is essentially a two-year,

The Dragun Corporation assists agriculture in complying with environmental regulations.

producer-funded study on farms across the United States in an attempt to gather air emissions data.  These data will be used to develop “emission factors” from various types of farming operations (e.g., dairy, swine, and poultry).  The end result will be numbers used to calculate each producer’s total air emissions.  These calculated emissions are used to determine if (1) you are exempt from regulation, (2) you need a CAA permit, or (3) you need a permit and need to install control equipment to limit your emissions.

There are a number of other significant issues in the Consent Agreement, such as liability protection, notification requirements, who controls the study, and how valid the study’s design criteria are.

Producers who do sign the Consent Agreement are afforded certain liability protection under the CAA, as well as limited liability protection under the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) and the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA).

Each producer should give careful consideration before deciding whether to sign the consent agreement.  It would be prudent to work with your co-op and legal counsel in deciding the best approach.

Sarah McVay, B.S. comes from a farming background in Stockbridge, MI.  Sarah works in the agricultural group providing consulting to producers on a variety of environmental compliance issues.  Sarah has attended Agricultural Management classes through the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the National Resource Conservation Services (NRCS) to enable her to write comprehensive Nutrient Management Plans.  

If you need additional information, please email Chris cpare@dragun.com

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