New York Farm Bureau Released This 4/12/2011
NYFB has just received word that the Environmental Protection Agency has agreed to exempt dairy from the Oil Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) Program, which would have treated dairy products like oil because of the fat content and forced farmers to develop expensive and unnecessary oil spill plans for their milk.
“This is a huge victory for dairy farmers all throughout Upstate New York, one which has been a long time coming,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer, who strongly advocated against these regulations on behalf of dairy farmers. “Everyone knows that when Congress enacted these laws it was targeting massive oil spills and toxic substances, not an accident involving milk at one of our state’s small dairy farms. With this exemption, I can now ensure New York dairy farmers that they will no longer have to cry over spilled milk, let alone the costly preparation for it.”
Senator Gillibrand and Congressmen Gibson, Owens and Reed also supported farmers by asking EPA to exempt milk from the oil spill regulations and were co-sponsors of bills to do so.
While milk tanks and piping will now be exempt from the regulations, other oil and fuel tanks on a dairy may still be regulated under SPCC and farms should make sure they are in compliance. For more information, please see the October issue of Grassroots (page 4) or contact NYFB’s Kelly Young at kyoung@nyfb.org.
