Keep Your Ranch Off Superfund List

Tell Congress to fix this mess!

As Congress returns to Washington following recess, efforts will resume to clarify that manure shouldn’t be subject to Superfund regulations.  Environmentalists are pressuring lawmakers on this issue and without legislative clarification; livestock producers could face Superfund liabilities.

A bill in the House of Representatives, H.R. 4341, will clarify that manure is not a hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant under the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA/Superfund regulations).  Cattle producers are urged to contact their member of Congress and discuss the importance of this bill.  Without Congressional action, every farm and ranch operation in the country that spreads manure potentially could be declared a Superfund site and be subject to penalties and enormous clean-up costs.

NCBA maintains that the original law was intended to address industrial pollution, not declare America’s agriculture lands hazardous waste.

“Congress established the Superfund program in 1974 to locate, investigate, and clean up toxic waste sites nationwide,” says Jay Truitt, NCBA vice president of government affairs.  “The program’s objective was to protect human health and the environment from the hazards of chemical waste.  But opponents of animal agriculture want to apply Superfund laws to livestock operations because of manure.  If they succeed, it will have a crippling effect on all of agriculture.”

H.R. 4341 in the House of Representatives, which has 173 co-sponsors, will make the necessary clarification.  Visit http://capwiz.com/beefusa to see a full list of co-sponsors.  If your U.S. representative is not yet listed, send a message asking them to sign on!

NCBA policy staff in Washington, D.C., are waiting for a companion bill to emerge in the Senate, so it also is important to let your senators know that you support this bill.  

In Congress, there is growing support for H.R. 4341; 109 members of the U.S. House of Representatives recently signed a letter to House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) urging swift action to clarify that manure is not considered a hazardous substance under CERCLA/Superfund regulations.

“Unless we act,” the letter says, “farmers across America could face vast liabilities under CERCLA and EPCRA [the Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act of 1986] – an outcome not envisioned or intended when Congress enacted those laws.”