On Earth Day, the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP), a CPR ally, released a new report on nitrogen pollution from poultry operations in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Using data from the Chesapeake Bay Program’s pollution modeling program, EIP found that approximately 24 million pounds of nitrogen pollution from the poultry industry entered the Chesapeake Bay’s tidal waters in 2018. This amount is greater than the total nitrogen from urban and suburban stormwater runoff in Maryland and Virginia combined (20 million pounds in 2018). All that nitrogen pollution can contaminate drinking water sources of nearby communities and feeds huge algal blooms in the Bay that block sunlight, choking off fish and plant life.
Nearly two-thirds of the poultry industry’s nitrogen pollution comes from broiler farms that raise chickens for meat. The Delmarva Peninsula — including Dorchester, Somerset, and Wicomico counties in Maryland (which have 220 registered poultry animal feeding operations, or AFOs) — is one of the greatest contributors of nitrogen pollution to the Bay.
The two major sources of nitrogen from poultry operations are airborne ammonia emissions from chicken litter and manure runoff into waterways (each contributing about half of the total nitrogen load to the Bay). Ammonia is a colorless compound characterized by a pungent odor and is produced as a byproduct of animals digesting food. It is emitted as a gas from poultry houses, then quickly settles onto nearby land or water.
In addition to the ecological harms of excess nitrogen pollution, exposure to ammonia can contribute to poor health in nearby communities. Ammonia is water soluble and when inhaled can quickly dissolve in the upper respiratory tract, irritating the eyes, nose, and throat. Strong ammonia odors from livestock operations are also associated with “odor annoyance” among neighboring residents.
Airborne ammonia can also rapidly react with atmospheric nitrate and sulfate to form PM2.5 (fine particulate matter), a pollutant that contributes to aggravated asthma, decreased lung function and respiratory symptoms, cardiovascular disease, and premature death. Children, the elderly, and people with underlying respiratory conditions are particularly vulnerable to harm from PM2.5 exposure. One 2011 study estimates that PM2.5 formed from ammonia emitted by livestock operations contributes 5 to 11 percent of total PM2.5 concentrations in a given region.
In addition to ammonia, poultry houses emit hydrogen sulfide, various pathogens and endotoxins, and other contaminants. The cumulative burden of these pollutants contributes to various adverse health outcomes. As described in EIP’s report, several studies published in the last five years found an association between community proximity to AFOs and pneumonia, asthma exacerbations, lung disease, stress, and respiratory and gastrointestinal infections.
Residents of Maryland’s Lower Eastern Shore have long sounded the alarm about the impact these facilities have on their communities. For example, EIP’s report features the story of Sam Berley and his wife Patricia, who live in Somerset County with their two children. In 2015, the family farmer next door sold the property to a new owner that built six chicken houses holding 270,000 birds. Sam, who suffers from asthma, told EIP, “The ammonia smell from urine and feces is so strong, and so offensive, it’s hard to breathe sometimes…. There are other chicken houses down the road that are even closer than these. When I drive by, half the time I have to hold my breath until I’ve passed. The odor is just overwhelming.” Air monitoring conducted by EIP in 2016 and 2017 near Berley’s home found ammonia levels averaged more than 20 times higher than what is considered normal for the area.
In an email exchange, now-former Wicomico County resident Margaret Barnes told me her family left the area after a string of health issues arose soon after arriving. "The life of all animals in industrial factory farms is so unnatural, so cruel and so toxic that no one should be shocked when it manifests as pure poison in our air and water," she wrote. "The sickness surrounding this industry is reflected in the number of neighbors with severe respiratory disease, asthma, and cancer. Since we have moved far away from CAFOs, our health has drastically improved. As a mother, I could never subject my child to living near a CAFO or slaughterhouse again." Barnes joined CPR and other community and public health advocates in March to testify in favor of a moratorium on new and expanding CAFOs in Maryland.
Despite these concerns, the number of chicken houses continues to increase on the Delmarva Peninsula. EIP’s report also found that the weight of broilers steadily increased in Delaware and Maryland between 2008-2018, meaning more nitrogen-rich manure is being produced per bird. The Delmarva Poultry Industry (DPI) also continues to deny that air pollution from the operations they represent harms the health of surrounding communities.
Unfortunately, quantifying the public health harms from poultry operations is difficult, as no existing AFO permits require monitoring or control of ammonia or other air emissions. Furthermore, DPI has not updated the public on whether they have installed the air monitoring stations they announced more than a year ago.
In light of these concerns, EIP’s report recommends, among other things, that AFOs be required to install air pollution monitors and report emissions on an annual basis; EPA should establish safety thresholds for ammonia for fenceline communities; and states and EPA should require poultry houses to install effective air pollution control systems.
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Darya Minovi | April 23, 2020
On Earth Day, the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP), a CPR ally, released a new report on nitrogen pollution from poultry operations in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Using data from the Chesapeake Bay Program’s pollution modeling program, EIP found that approximately 24 million pounds of nitrogen pollution from the poultry industry entered the Chesapeake Bay’s tidal waters in 2018. That's more than from urban and suburban stormwater runoff in Maryland and Virginia combined, and it can contaminate drinking water sources of nearby communities and feed huge algal blooms in the Bay that block sunlight, choking off fish and plant life.
Brian Gumm | April 21, 2020
On April 17, CPR Board President Rob Verchick joined EPA enforcement chief Susan Bodine and other panelists for an American Bar Association webinar on environmental protections and enforcement during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the event, Bodine expressed "surprise" that the agency's pandemic enforcement policy was so roundly criticized, but she shouldn't have been caught off guard by those critiques. As Verchick noted during the discussion, "The problem with [weakening monitoring and pollution reporting requirements] is that fenceline communities have no idea where to look. They have no idea if the facilities in their backyards are…taking a holiday from pollution requirements or not."
Michael C. Duff | April 21, 2020
With COVID-19 cases contracted at work on the rise, labor and employment attorneys, businesses, advocates, and workers are all wondering if their state’s workers’ compensation law will apply, and alternatively, if an ill worker could file a lawsuit against their employer. The answers to these questions are not simple, as workers’ compensation laws vary by state, and when it comes to occupational diseases, the applicability of workers’ comp is often even more complicated. In a recent post on Workers’ Compensation Law Prof Blog, CPR Member Scholar Michael Duff discusses the so-called workers’ compensation “grand bargain,” under which workers receive no-fault benefits for work-related injuries and illnesses in exchange for giving up their right to file a lawsuit against their employer. In his post, Duff explores the circumstances in which a worker who has contracted COVID-19 at work may still have the right to file a lawsuit (getting around the “exclusivity bar”), as illustrated by a recently filed wrongful death case in Illinois, Evans v. Walmart. In this case, plaintiffs argue that two Walmart employees, Wando Evans and Phillip Thomas, passed away due to complications from COVID-19 contracted while working for the big box retailer.
Katie Tracy | April 20, 2020
As the coronavirus pandemic wears on, reports abound of essential frontline workers laboring without such basic protective gear as masks, gloves, soap, or water; with improper distancing between workstations and coworkers; and in workplaces alongside infected colleagues. So far, nearly 4,000 workers have filed complaints with the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), raising concerns about health and safety conditions inside the workplace. Yet the agency has been largely absent at a time it is most needed. Shamefully, as COVID-19 illnesses rise in slaughterhouses, grocery stores, hospitals, and other worksites across the nation, the agency has chosen to go against its very mission of protecting America’s workers, ignoring calls to adopt emergency standards and rolling back its enforcement efforts.
Matthew Freeman | April 17, 2020
On April 14, CPR's James Goodwin took part in a virtual hearing, hosted by the Union of Concerned Scientists, on the EPA's "censored science" rule, an effort by EPA to exclude from its rulemaking process a range of scientific studies that industry finds uncongenial to its anti-regulatory views. In his testimony, Goodwin dismantles EPA's contention that the rule is grounded in law, observing that there are no credible legal underpinnings for the proposal.
Daniel Farber | April 17, 2020
During the coronavirus crisis, Dr. Anthony Fauci has become the voice of reason. Much of the public turns to him for critical information about public health while even President Trump finds it necessary to listen. In the Trump era, no one plays that role in the environmental arena. The result is a mindless campaign of deregulation that imperils public health and safety. We can't clone Dr. Fauci or duplicate the unique circumstances that have made his voice so powerful. However, we can do several things that would make it harder for administrations to ignore science.
Darya Minovi | April 16, 2020
On April 29, the Center for Progressive Reform (CPR) will host a webinar to discuss the public health and policy implications of COVID-19 and to highlight the many policy parallels between the pandemic and climate change. Speakers include Daniel Farber, JD, of UC Berkeley (and a CPR Member Scholar); Monica Schoch-Spana, PhD, of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; and Aaron Bernstein, MD, MPH, of Boston Children’s Hospital and the Harvard Medical School. Join us!
Laurie Ristino | April 15, 2020
Americans are experiencing a tidal wave of food insecurity related to the coronavirus pandemic. Historic unemployment claims and surging demand at food banks are laying bare the precarious circumstances of many of our citizens and the inadequacy of our social safety net. We can learn from the coronavirus epidemic--and we must in order to prevent human suffering in the future. Taking stock and then reforming our policies should start now while legislative momentum is possible--not after the country has moved past the apex of the disease. In a recent episode of the podcast, Good Law/Bad Law, Laurie Ristino joined host Aaron Freiwald to discuss the vital connection between the 2018 Farm Bill, the pandemic, and the startling food insecurity so many Americans are now facing.
Thomas McGarity, Wendy Wagner | April 13, 2020
Over the last month, the scripts of the daily White House COVID-19 briefings have followed a familiar pattern: President Trump leads off with assurances that the crisis remains “totally under control” and that miracle cures are just around the corner. Then agency experts come to the microphone and tell a very different story. For example, on March 19, the president reported that the Food and Drug Administration “very, very quickly” approved a malaria drug, hydroxychloroquine, for treating COVID-19 that it had previously approved for lupus, malaria, and rheumatoid arthritis. Later in the briefing, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the long-time head of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, cautioned listeners that controlled testing would have to be completed before we know whether the drug works on the novel coronavirus. And FDA later warned that it had definitely not approved hydroxychloroquine for fighting the virus.