LISTEN: Rules relief for livestock producers?

 Livestock producers could soon get a breath of fresh air if lawmakers succeed in exempting them from Superfund livestock emissions reporting.

The bill just introduced and cosponsored by some 20-senators, would exempt producers from reporting livestock manure emissions as environmental disasters, which is exactly what a federal court has required by May first.

Livestock groups and the American Farm Bureau asked lawmakers for help last week, and the bipartisan response was lightning-fast.

Environment and Public Works Chairman John Barrasso and American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall:

One concern is dealing with public safety:

Duvall says activist groups like the Humane Society will have access to private farm information filed with the Coast Guard’s National Response Center, making it easier to sue producers.

The AFBF chief says in a new statement that Congress “did not intend to regulate farms as toxic Superfund sites. Farm Bureau argues there isn’t even “scientific consensus on how to measure air emissions on individual farms.”