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Farm Bureau, Pork Producers applaud EPA settlement

 

The American Farm Bureau is applauding a court settlement requiring the Environmental Protection Agency to scrub personal information from concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) records before releasing them to the public.

Farm Bureau president Zippy Duvall says winning the lawsuit against the EPA is a major victory for the personal privacy of farmers.  Now, he says the settlement will allow only the city, county, zip code, and permit status of a farm to be released to the public under the Freedom of Information Act.

Farm Bureau and the National Pork Producers Council sued the EPA in 2013 after the agency released names, addresses, email addresses, GPS coordinates, and telephone numbers of individuals involved in large livestock and poultry operations.  They successfully argued the information could have been used to encourage harassment or violence against farmers and ranchers, and should not have been released.