The Utah Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that establishes a collaborative working relationship to develop and implement the Utah Animal Feeding Operation Air Quality Strategy. The purpose of the strategy is to gather air emissions information from animal feeding operations and implement programs to reduce emissions.

“This strategy places a higher focus on local input and local solutions, allows an evaluation of best management practices for reducing air emissions and helps maintain a viable agriculture industry in Utah,” said DEQ Executive Director Dianne Nielson.

Specifically, the strategy is designed to:

• Quantify air emissions from Utah’s confined animal feeding operations, including emissions of ammonia, volatile organic compounds, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulfide, particulate mater and hazardous air pollutants.
• Identify appropriate best management practices for different types of operations.
• Identify which existing best management practices have air quality benefits, while avoiding impacts on water quality.
• Identify operations that may be subject to the requirements of the Clean Air Act and other environmental regulations.
• Develop a multi-area implementation plan that starts with a voluntary, incentive-based approach; meets Clean Air Act requirements; builds on the success of the strategy used for water quality protection; and maximizes air, water, and waste benefits.

The Utah Department of Agriculture and Food (UDAF) is working with DEQ to implement the strategy. The departments, along with commodity groups and farm organizations, will form a partnership to implement the new EPA air quality program.

The departments will work to provide funding to help gather and analyze air emissions data, coordinate monitoring with owners of animal feeding operations and implement solutions where problems exist.

"One benefit of this strategy is that it will help Utah’s producers meet the requirements of state and federal regulations and maintain a strong agricultural presence in the State of Utah,” said George Hopkins, UDAF director of the Division of Conservation and Resource Management.

This strategy is a result of joint efforts by cooperating agencies to creatively find a solution that is locally driven, locally sensitive and locally effective. It is patterned after an existing State Water Quality Program that has been praised by the EPA as a model for the United States.

Posted August 9, 2005