DBA Lauds Governor Walker For Stopping Unnecessary Air Regulations on Wisconsin's Dairy Farms

Today, Governor Walker signed into law a bill that DBA and other livestock associations have been working on for years. This new bill prohibits the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) from regulating air emissions associated with agricultural waste until it is required by federal law. Without passage of this bill, dairy farms across the state would be subject to the air emission regulation under Wisconsin Administrative Code NR 445, which was originally written to regulate the emissions of industries with smoke stacks. The EPA is currently in the process of analyzing the data compiled from their extensive national study. EPA will promulgate guidance for air emissions from farms after all data has been analyzed. This is a major victory for dairy farmers in Wisconsin, as the deadline for compliance was approaching quickly and would have resulted in dairy producers being required to implement costly best management practices. "Animal agriculture in Wisconsin would have been subject to another regulation that has no basis in science. Dairy farmers in Wisconsin can't afford to be in a regulatory island." commented Laurie Fischer, DBA Executive Director. "The singing of this bill is very important in keeping Wisconsin's $26.5 billion a year industry robust and growing." DBA is grateful to Governor Walker, the members of the Joint Committee for the Review of Administrative Rules, the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Environment and the Assembly Committee on Natural Resources for their work on this important legislation. 03.07.2012