The National Milk Producers Federation is supporting a bill introduced in the Senate that would clarify laws regulating industrial waste sites. At issue is whether dairy farms and other livestock operations should be governed by the same laws that were intended to address Superfund toxic waste sites.

According to the latest NMPF newsletter, the new bill, S. 3681, amends the so-called Superfund laws passed more than 20 years ago to affirm that those laws do not, and should not, regulate animal manure as a toxic waste.

“Manure happens on farms, and there are plenty of existing federal and state laws, including the Clean Water Act, that help ensure the nation’s waterways are protected from any negative impacts from the nutrients found in animal waste,” said Jerry Kozak, President and CEO of NMPF. “But Congress never intended for the CERCLA and EPRCA laws to be applied to farming, and this new legislation will help ensure that the laws remain focused on regulating and cleaning up industrial waste sites.”