Barn Door Open for Coarse Particulate Regulation

The U.S Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued an opinion on February 24, 2009, that has attracted attention for its potential near-term impacts on particulate matter emissions from concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) and other agricultural activities.

In American Farm Bureau Federation and National Pork Producers Council v. EPA, the court upheld the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) October 2006 final rule that retained the 24-hour, 150 μg/m3 National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for particulate matter (PM) with a diameter less than or equal to 10 microns, also called "PM10" or "coarse PM."

Although the final rule does not contain any regulations mandating specific controls for particulate matter, EPA dropped its proposal to exempt agricultural sources from the need to install controls to meet the coarse particulate matter NAAQS, leaving the door open for potential regulation under the Clean Air Act. Read more…

Republished with permission of Law360.