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	Press Releases April 14, 2003   LIEBERMAN QUESTIONS ANIMAL FEEDLOT RULE Letter to EPA Cites Potential Dangers to Public Health, Environment   WASHINGTON - Governmental Affairs Committee Ranking Member Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., - as part of his commitment to oversee the environmental record of the Bush Administration - expressed strong reservations today about the impact of a new rule governing the disposal of waste from concentrated animal feeding operations. In a letter to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christine Todd Whitman, dated April 14, 2003, Lieberman questioned the regulation’s impact on the public’s health and the environment and noted that the General Accounting Office has also raised doubts about the EPA’s ability to implement and enforce the rule. “Data compiled by EPA confirms that animal feeding operations are significant contributors to impaired water quality in the nation’s rivers and lakes,” Lieberman said in his letter. “In light of the significant health and environmental risks identified by EPA itself, I am troubled that EPA adopted regulations significantly weaker than proposed.” The new rule, which was published February 12, 2003, and becomes effective on April 14, 2003, retreats from the proposed rule issued in January 2001 by the Clinton Administration. Lieberman raised numerous questions about the rule, based in part on EPA’s own conflicting documents, such as how much waste will actually be reduced; how the health risks associated with harmful pathogens will be addressed; the lack of standards for a nutrient management plan; the lack of a requirement for groundwater monitoring; and whether EPA and states will be able to implement the rule. “Given the seriousness of the impacts of nutrients on our nation’s waters, please explain why EPA adopted a final rule projected to result in significantly less reduction in nutrients compared to the original proposal,” Lieberman asked. He requested a response to his questions by May 6, 2003. Last March, Lieberman held two hearings entitled “Public Health and Natural Resources: A Review of the Implementation of Our Environmental Laws,” where witnesses testified about their fears the Administration would weaken existing policies. Richard Dove, Riverkeeper of North Carolina’s Neuse River, and a fisherman by profession, spoke specifically about the concentrated animal feeding operation rule. He told of the open bleeding lesions he first noticed on fish in the river and later experienced himself. “When you confine animals, or ‘citify’ them,” he testified, “you have to do the same thing for animals you do for people. You have to provide wastewater treatment facilities. But this industry has somehow been able to escape treating their animal waste... Fisherman who fish the waters see this animal waste running down the rivers.” Subsequently, Lieberman, who then chaired the Governmental Affairs Committee, issued a report by the Majority Staff, called “Rewriting the Rules,” that questioned the administration’s commitment to environmental protection. The report found the Administration discounted regulatory procedure and the value of public participation with regard to three previously approved rules and said the Administration set an antagonistic tone in its approach to environmental and health regulations. In January of this year, the GAO found that the EPA was ill-prepared to implement and enforce the new animal waste rule.   ###   Printable Version   Related File(s) (pdf) Lieberman Letter on Animal Feedlot Rule (25.4 KBs) « previous Press Release next Press Release »   1998 - 1999 - 2000 - 2001 - 2002 - 2003 - 2004 - 2005 - 2006 - 2007 April 2003 Press Releases March   |  May   --   2002   |  2004     April 29 - Lieberman Pursues Aggressive Homeland Security Oversight, Appeals to Bush to Better Manage Intelligance Information   April 29 - Lieberman, Cantwell: DOE Inspector General Conducting a Preliminary Investigation into FERC's Wall Street Contacts   April 28 - Campaign Finance China Connection Re-emerges   April 23 - Lieberman, Cantwell Seek Investigation of Federal Energy Regulators’ Wall Street Contacts   April 21 - Postal Workers Deprived of Significant Information Concerning Anthrax Contamination at Wallingford   April 16 - Lieberman Seeks More Answers on USAID Bidding Process for Post-War Construction Contracts   April 14 current Press Release   April 10 - Lieberman Calls for Justification of Closed Bidding on Iraq Reconstruction, Legislation Would Require USAID to Publicly Explain How and Why it Selected Contractors   April 10 - Lieberman Condemns Interior-Utah Deal on Public Land Claims   April 9 - Lieberman: Investing in Homeland Security, Challenges on the Front Line   April 8 - Administration Policies Reduce First Responder Force, 60 Percent of the Largest Police Forces are Pulling Back from War on Terrorism   April 7 - Lieberman Seeks Probe of Deputy Secretary Griles' Adherence to Ethics Agreements   April 4 - Lieberman Heeds Lessons of SARS Outbreak   April 3 - Lieberman Raises New Questions About Handling of Suspicious Mail at Hartford Facility Despite Assurances by Postmaster General   April 1 - Lieberman Seeks Information on USAID’s Selection of Companies Allowed to Bid on Iraqi Construction Contracts
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