ComputerHunter.org |
|
|
|||
|
 |
Does Your Farm Stink? The EPA Wants to Find Out
Farmers will eventually be facing federal regulations involving air emissions produced on their farms, that may touch on everything from spreading manure, to the exhaust fan at the barn. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced its construction of the Air Quality Compliance Agreement. According to the EPA website, its primary goals are to reduce air pollution, monitor animal feeding operation emissions, and to develop a national consensus on the methodologies for collecting and sampling emissions at the farm level. This new compliance agreement will have a bite, with the ability to levy some hefty fines. Some of the regulatory acts for which EPA will be seeking compliance are the Clean Air Act and the Right to Know Act, according to the EPA website. A two-year planning period is being laid out, at which time volunteer feeding operations can sign up for emissions testing, at the price of $200, and allow air testing on their farms in order to set the base line standard. Ammonia is one of the biggest concerns, but many other emissions, including hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide are being tested as well. Complaints from neighbors about manure spreading and other unpleasant aromas from farm operations appears to be raising a stink, according to the Penn State website at http://nutrient.psu. edu/. Much of the information available to the public is still undergoing transformation in wording and timeline. As with any government regulations, they tend to be very dynamic. The next two years of field testing will have significant impact on final wording. At present, the farmer-to-EPA agreement is a 41-page document, which can be viewed on the EPA website under "air quality". Stiff penalties ranging from $200 to $100,000 are presently being considered. There was nothing we could find in our search to indicate that this agreement is limited to a particular size operation, nor that it applies only to confinement operations. It is rather open-ended, and leads one to believe that sooner or later all feed operations will be targeted for inspection. We are betting that the stinky ones are first, with the ones having complaints from city neighbors and disgruntled employees running a close second. There are a couple hundred webpages devoted to this topic, and suggests that many sources will be inspected with regard to air quality. Any barn or structure that houses livestock, and any manure storage facility on the farm are primary targets for emissions testing with this program. So, what does all of this mean to feeding operations in our area? Perhaps it is too early to be sure, but we're willing to stick our neck out and make some projections. First of all, operators should make themselves aware of current EPA regulations with regard to the Air Quality Compliance Agreement. One can be certain that more information is forthcoming. No one wants to argue that clean air isn't important. It would be difficult to even argue that farms don't emit some rank odors once in awhile. For some operations, the odors may be present all year. Scientific data supports that high concentrations of certain farm emissions, and/or prolonged exposure to the same, can cause greater health risks. Pressure from surrounding communities has likely spurred these latest developments. It will be years before the hot air of Washington wafts its way to every little feeding operation, but it will eventually come. Operators will be responsible for more testing, more paperwork, and more compliance. "Air permits" are discussed in the website as a possibility. Operators will bear the burden of some of the costs, which are not likely to show up in increased farm revenue. With U.S. food prices being extremely stable and relatively inexpensive, the U.S. farmer has historically increased herd size in order to cash flow his/her operation. Air quality standards may reverse that trend, and in time create a reduction in overall meat and poultry supply, and perhaps help the pricing at the farm level. But in the interim, expect more paperwork, a few seminars, and more government interest in the air emissions of your farm. ALL of us want clean water, and clean air. This act will offer protection to those who can readily comply, and be a misery to some who cannot. For the consumer, the good news is certainly in better quality living environment for people and livestock. The bad news is that strict air quality regulations may cause the down-sizing or elimination of some herds, and on a national scale could have a negative impact on food supplies and pricing. According to the EPA, technological advances in filtering air emissions from barns and manure storages may serve as an aid to farm operations. Several prototypes are in the testing phase. Tom Clouser is a 38 year old farmer in Pennsylvania. In addition to farming, he and his father publish a monthly 16-page newspaper called "Trees 'n' Turf", which targets subjects of interest to those in land use industries and activities. View their website at http://www.clouserfarm.net
Top Stories - Google News
|
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
An Introduction to the Connecticut State Budget for 2004-2005 The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM) is interested in the state's budgetary health, so that the conference can estimate how much money the state will transfer to local towns and municipalities. To determine the fiscal health of any state, the first place to examine is expenditures on prescription drugs for the state's Medicaid program. Rising prescription drug costs are the single most important explanatory factor for the increases in health care costs, health insurance premiums across the country, and state budget deficits. Connecticut is no exception. Screening Trucks and Containers Coming Into Our Country We presently have adequate sniffer devices in this country to help us screen the trucks and containers coming into this country at our checkpoints and ports. Now we should be conducting massive recording of odors of trucking shipments and containers for database evaluations to insure that we do not unnecessarily impede the flow of trade or delay parts needed to run our economic powerhouse. We must provide for security and proper flow without creating additional choke points or create stoppage, which will result in billions in lost productivity. By having huge databases of sampling we will be able to determine and to find anomalies in rogue transportation events and prevent an attack on our homeland. Economics and Politics of Regional Droughts It cities across America water is an issue, the flow is sporadic, either too much or too little. We must stabilize the flow, so businesses can plan, people can feel secure and we will not be caught with our pants down during the next drought. In some parts of our country the drought is now approaching 10-years and it is serious and economically destabilizing. As the droughts become more often, more severe and longer in length due to over use of supply, we must be ready. Many cities understand the importance of water and the psyche involved in plentiful water and the innate happiness it brings to the human spirit and they have developed River Walks, boat rides, etc to encompass such water features. Cities like Oklahoma City, Tempe, AZ; San Antonio, Caldwell ID, Wichita KS, Reno, NV; etc. Counter Intelligence: Accurate Words to Describe Our Dealings with Islamic Terrorists! Introduction: Environmentalism and Roads in Our Forests Many environmentalists are against roads through the forest because it could disrupt wildlife, hunting areas for other mammals. They also worry about the affect on all the species living there. Mankind generally from a historical perspective has not been all that kind to the natural surroundings. We have seen this even in Indian Cultures, which had been thought to take care of the land, yet on further scrutiny used the land and left debris and litter from their activities. Archeologists have seen this on all continents so it is not a negative statement about our American Indians, for they are some of the finest tribes ever to walk the face of the planet. The Options For Regime Change In Iran If recent speeches by US officials on Iran's plans to become a nuclear power can be seen as part of a build-up to a possible US-evoked regime change in Iran, the intelligence behind it is at once scant and abundant. Whatever the real official US policy toward Iran is aiming for exactly is hard to get clear, but it is noteworthy that off late, US officials have stepped up their campaign of Iran criticism. The Dawn On The Nile Valley Has Secrets To Tell! Amnesty International comments on the proposal that has been laid out by President Obasnjo the Chairman of the African Union in regards to the Sudanese Darfurian issue. Trucking and the Flow of Fuel There are many types of fuels besides that gasoline we put in our cars and use to cruise around. It is only the first that come to mind when we think of fuel; "Gasoline" for my car. What about "Diesel Fuel" for trucks? It is a huge amount of fuel. Think how many trucks there are on the road? All the independent truck drivers with those fancy rigs getting just about 5 mile per gallon depending on terrain, loads, speed and wind. Then of course the huge fleets of the grocery chains and giant companies like Wal-Mart. You have Publix, Albertson's, HEB, Kroger and Piggly Wiggly, which all with enormous fleets of their own. Then you have the large contract carriers like Swift, JB Hunt, Werner, Covenant, US Express, Dick Simon, etc. and the LTL Carriers? Less then Load Companies with gargantuan fleets and even with all the consolidation of companies like; Fed Ex Ground buying up Viking, American Freightways and others to form the third largest LTL; the mega merger of Roadway and Yellow Freight; the bankruptcy of Consolidated Freightways; these fleets have continued to buy fuel to get the products to market, deliver the materials and components to keep the world's economies turning. All this is made possible because the fuel is readily available at price threshold that is livable. Without it America stops. Experts? ACCREDITATION: - Scholastic regimentation from the post WWII period has accelerated to the point that Canada won't let an Olympic figure skating medalist teach or coach young Canadians the errors and damages of the present system. She could earn more in the U. S. or other places but she is willing to do this for free if they would let her. How would Einstein or Bucky Fuller become professors in today's structured adherence to accepted models of learning? Canada is held up as a fine example by the U.N. committees which evaluate governments throughout this world. Last week the support staff went on strike in our schools of Toronto. Government Overregulation of Broadcast Content Could Backfire Rush is right! The government's stepped up bid to regulate broadcast television content is indeed frightening. Limbaugh made his comments during one of his regular radio broadcasts last year. Those remarks were in response to the FCC's crackdown on broadcast indecency and Congress' threats to hand out much larger fines to broadcasters for such violations, in the wake of Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" at the Super Bowl halftime show last February. MAURITANIA: Celebrating Tayas Ouster? Musical Chairs No Longer Fashionable In Africa A few hours ago, Colonel Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, the National Director of Security of Mauritania, launched himself into power and shut his boss, President Maaoya Taya, out of Nouakchott. CBM?s Indo-Pak Peace Process Will a bus running across the borders bring cordial relations between the two south asian nuclear rivals India and Pakistan? Well this is a question that will look for its answer on it own and time can only find its answer. Osama bin Laden Needs a Pay Raise Osama bin Laden probably needs to get a pay raise, as he has not sent in any new videos lately to scare us via Al Jezerz TV. Where oh where has our little dog gone? We need OBL to keep us in fear. Without a really evil type protagonist it makes everyone look really stupid in all these Middle Eastern conflicts? We have tried to promote other bad guys to the scene, various Cleric Lunatics who are in sighting Muslim Radical Jihadists to the battle. But it is not working. Everyone is asking where Osama bin Laden really is. Hiding in a cave sounded really funny and cool, but obviously that was bogus? Political Lobbying & Biblical Aspects of the Mid-East Crisis 1) IS HAVING A DEMOCRACY MORE EFFECTIVE IN ADDRESSING POLITICAL CONCERNS? Elliot Spitzer for NY Governor I believe it would be good for the economy for Elliot Spitzer to be the governor of New York. It would be the best thing that ever happened to the economic well being of our nation. Not because he would make a great governor; in fact I believe he would suck. But since I do not live in New York I am not concerned. Government Credit Card Abuse Veterans Affairs Employees using government credit cards on personal items? Yes it is true and it is happening at the DOD, Air Force, Navy. There have been stories of this happening at local sheriff's offices. At the US Department of Labor as well as local school districts. There was a recent report of widespread abuse at the DOI as too. Where is all this money spent? Clearing Land Mine Fields from the Air You know we have sent many, many army tanks with protruded devices used for minesweeping to the Middle East from the Logistics Base in our country. They are assigned to removing the left over land mines of past wars. Each year hundreds of thousands lose their lives and limbs to these past war buried relics. The army tanks which remove these devices have not really been redesigned since the second WW, hardly any real improvements in their designs. But it has occurred to me that you can sweep these mines from the air if you want. Here is how it might be done; first, a powerful helicopter drags flat plates of steel along the ground with skids, in front of that is heavy chains dragging approximately 20 yards connected to each other like the kind your used to level fields and scrap away dirt clods and then the chains of smaller size actually in the air attached to cables attached to the helicopter about 50ft AGL. Going All Out to Win a War Conventional warfare is getting to its limits. Soon wars will be fought by robots and on many more fronts, which will render civilization completely immobilized. What is going all out to win a war? What does that mean? We can do this with tactical nuclear weapons, germ warfare, poisoned water supply, etc. And as many of academia have said we should not do that because it is evil. They say the; "means are not justified by the ends." Yes, this is most likely true, but neither does war. If someone wages war against you, it is a little late to be talking about means and justifications, they are trying to kill you. I would debate then this fact "The ends do not justify the means." If we fight the war fair and they do not and we all die, who cares about means justifying anything, if you and I perish due to some lunatic with a nuclear weapon pointed at one of our cities or just parked in a container in downtown Las Angeles, Houston, Baltimore, Detroit or Chicago? Does it matter that you followed all the rules of war? Hell that is what the Brits did in the revolutionary war, lined up in rows and tried to fight a gentleman's war? Look there is nothing gentleman like about fighting a war or killing a member of your own species. What Ordinary People Are Saying--Robertson Assassination Comment What ordinary people are saying about U.S. televangelist Pat Robertson who suggested the U.S. government should assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Robertson went on to state that Chavez is a "dangerous enemy" and killing Chavez would be cheaper than going to war to remove him. Death and Destruction and the Run Up to D Day This is the third in a short series of four articles about the events in Britain in the 1940's. My late uncle Mr Gordon Bessant is talking to Mr Joe Hieatt-Smith. The recordings were made in 1994.
|
|
|
|
|
