The National Chicken Council (NCC) this week joined with USPOULTRY and the National Turkey Federation (NTF) to submit comments to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt who asked the public for ideas for reducing the agency’s regulatory burden. More than 57,000 comments were received including a number of suggestions from other agriculture groups.
In response to the February 2017 Executive Order establishing the policy of alleviating and reducing unnecessary and burdensome regulations, the EPA solicited public comments evaluating existing regulations. NCC, USPOULTRY and NTF specifically addressed three areas where regulations are most burdensome to the poultry industry, including the duplication of data submission through discharge monitoring reports and the toxic release inventory program.
The groups also included the Waters of the U.S. as a burdensome regulation along with the EPCRA/CERCLA reporting requirements for farmers. “We support the action by the President and the Administrator announcing their intent to withdraw the agency’s final 2015 rulemaking and replace it with a rule that is clear in its regulatory scope, avoids federal overreach in exercising the authority of EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and properly balances environmental protection and private property rights.”
NCC, USPOULTRY and NTF also stressed that the industry is committed to acting responsibly to protect the environment and the health of the public and the group’s comments and recommendations are in no way meant to undermine programs authorized by Congress that aim to protect community health and the environment.
The comments can be read in full here.
