Environmental Appeals Board Ratifies First Group of Air Consent Agreements

In an extensive opinion issued today, the Environmental Appeals Board ("EAB") took the final necessary step in EPA's administrative process and ratified twenty Animal Feeding Operations Air Consent Agreements. The EAB responded to numerous substantive challenges to the agreements raised by various citizen groups (including the Association of Irritated Residents and the Sierra Club) and held that the agreements comply with applicable statutory and regulatory requirements.

Now that the EAB has ratified these air consent agreements, EPA will coordinate the EAB's approval of the remaining 2,600+ agreements, which we expect will occur very quickly. The 20 agreements ratified today involved 10 swine and 10 egg farms.

We expect that the air monitoring studies will proceed shortly for the swine and egg species.

For a copy of the EAB's opinion and final order, click here.