EPA wants emissions data from large-scale farms

Washington

-- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is looking for information on animal feeding operations (AFO) and the effect they have on the environment.

The call for information will help the agency hone its emissions estimating tools, according to EPA. EPA will combine all submitted data with information it collected over a two-year study of AFOs—which include large-scale meat, dairy and egg producers. Ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, particulate matter and volatile organic compounds are among the air pollutants measured in the study. EPA also is interested in data about how animals are housed or manages, and how manure is stored and treated and these types of operations.

The data collected by the EPA over the last two years is contained in the National Air Emissions Monitoring Study, initiated in 2005 and conducted by Purdue University with EPA oversight.

Draft methodologies for emissions estimators using the information submitted to EPA will be released on a rolling basis beginning in spring 2011, according to the agency.