Seriously. According to CattleNetwork.Com, Pat has signed on as the most recent co-sponsor of H.R. 4341. What is H.R. 4341? It's an amendment to the Superfund Environmental Cleanup legislation, specifically, an amendment that excludes manure from being considered a pollutant. According to the proposed bill, this is manure:
3 ‘‘(d) DEFINITION.—For the purposes of this section,
4 the term ‘manure’ means—
5 ‘‘(1) digestive emissions, feces, urine, urea and
6 other excrement from livestock (as defined by
7 7 C.F.R. 205.2);
8 ‘‘(2) any associated bedding, compost, raw ma-
9 terials or other materials commingled with such ex-
10 crement from livestock (as defined by 7 C.F.R.
11 205.2);
12 ‘‘(3) any process water associated with the
13 items referred to in paragraph (1) or (2); and
14 ‘‘(4) any byproducts, constituents, or sub-
15 stances contained in, originating from, or emissions
16 relating to the items described in paragraph (1), (2),
According to the original legislation, a pollutant or contaminant is:
(33) The term "pollutant or contaminant" shall include, but not be limited to, any element, substance, compound, or mixture, including disease-causing agents, which after release into the environment and upon exposure, ingestion, inhalation, or assimilation into any organism, either directly from the environment or indirectly by ingestion through food chains, will or may reasonably be anticipated to cause death, disease, behavioral abnormalities, cancer, genetic mutation, physiological malfunctions (including malfunctions in reproduction) or physical deformations, in such organisms or their offspring; except that the term "pollutant or contaminant" shall not include petroleum, including crude oil or any fraction thereof which is not otherwise specifically listed or designated as a hazardous substance under subparagraphs (A) through (F) of paragraph (14) and shall not include natural gas, liquefied natural gas, or synthetic gas of pipeline quality (or mixtures of natural gas and such synthetic gas).
Okay. Would one of these fine co-sponsors care to personally demonstrate how the direct ingestion of
feces, urine, urea and other excrement is perfectly safe? Why not save all the money that is currently being spent on segregating the storm sewer overflow from the sanitation sewers, and just let the human excrement back into the Scioto?
Nobody wants to see a farmer get crippling fines for using organic fertilizer on her/his crops. Of course, family farms are not the problem. The problem is entities like
mega-pig farms:(PBS Correspondent) JEFFREY KAYE: In 2001, the meat industry persuaded the EPA to delay strict enforcement of clean air rules, and to instead fund a National Academies of Science study of the issue. Their report, released one year later, found industrial farms were sources of several critical pollutants.
(NAS report co-author) RUSSELL DICKERSON: Pollutants that are tied to: Morbidity and mortality among American people; to eco-system damage; surface systems; forests and grass lands; aquatic systems like estuaries and fresh water lakes and streams.
Once again, I understand the concerns that family farmers might have with the regulation of manure as a hazardous substance. On the other hand, I don't think the answer is, in a paraphrasing of Tiberi's HR 4341:
'Hey, America! Eat S**t and Die!'