2006年NPR美国国家公共电台三月-Chicken and Hog Farms Measured for Air Po

Renee Montagne: This is Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.

Steve Inskeep: And I'm Steve Inskeep. Federal environmental officials are starting to monitor the source of air-pollution that they largely ignored in the past--farms. As part of a legal settlement, the Environmental Protection Agency will test emissions 1 on chicken and hog 2 farms. Some environmental groups are challenging this agreement, saying it goes to easy on farming operations that are known polluters. From Kansas City, NPR's Greg Allen reports.

Greg Allen: On Mack Schmidt's farm near Elma, Iowa, it's hog feeding time, about 60 sows are jostling for grain in an outside pen. Schmidt runs a farrow to finish operation, raising pigs from birth to the slaughter 3 house. Each year he raises about 23 thousand pigs. In a state where some producers market hundreds of thousands of pigs each year, Schmidt's is only a mid-sized hog farm. Even so, along with pigs, he also has a lot of manure 4, a byproduct he considers valuable and uses to fertilize 5 his corn and soybeans. He hoards 6 it in deep pits under the buildings where the pigs are raised.

Mack Schmidt: It's, er, just like a huge basement underneath 7 there, you can step inside here.

Greg Allen: Schmidt leads the way into one of his hog containment 8 buildings; it's a long, barn-like structure with several big ventilation fans. On this day, although it's below freezing outside, inside, it's warm and humid, no wonder when you get a look at the one thousand pigs that live here, the pigs, Schmidt points out, are all standing 9 on slats.

Mack Schmidt: And if you look down through there, you catch the light, you can see the manure down there, about 6 feet down. And there's probably about 2 feet of it under, it was pumped out last fall. And we are in a barn now, where these pigs are getting close to market, in the next 2 weeks, all of these pigs will be gone. The barn will be completely power washed, and we can clean this, you could eat off the floor when we are done.

Greg Allen: Maybe so, but not now. To say there is a pungent 10 odor in this barn would be a severe understatement. There is an old saying among the farmers, they say it smells like money. Odor is a big problem on hog farms, one that can have a dramatic impact on the quality of life in rural areas. But in recent years, researchers are paying increasing attention to the particulates 11 and gases that are also produced on hog farms. Peter Thorn, a professor of environmental health at the University of Iowa, says these emissions can pose a health risk. Particulates can include animal dander, bacteria and viruses, and the danger posed by gases like hydrogen sulfite and ammonia is even more clear. But while much is known about the dangers these substances pose to workers in industrial settings, Thorn says there has been much less research on how these emissions affect those who live near livestock 12 operations.

Peter Thorn: At these lower levels of exposure, such as we are talking about in the rural environment, they are likely to be more subtle, subtle neurological problems, some aggravation 13 of lung, it's particularly in susceptible 14 individuals such as young children or people with asthma 15.

Greg Allen: Thorn cites one study showing that the incidents of asthma among children who live on hog farms is doubled that of children who don't live near hogs 16. Rising concerns about how emissions from livestock operations might be affecting nearby communities have led to a number of lawsuits 17 in recent years. Farmers have been charged with violations 18 of the Clean Air Act and Right-to-know laws requiring them to monitor and report emissions. But that's something that, up to now, few farmers have ever done. To bring them into compliance 19, the EPA reached an agreement with poultry 20 farmers, pork producers and dairy operators that allows the government to begin monitoring emissions on farms. In return, while the study is going on, farmers can't be prosecuted 21 for air pollution violations. That amnesty provision has angered some environmental groups.

Ed Hopkins: This agreement is actually a fraud, because it won't result in compliance over the next few years.

Greg Allen: Ed Hopkins is with the Sierra Club, one of the environmental groups that sued to block the agreement. Hopkins isn't opposed to the testing. It's being overseen 22 by experts at Purdue University and is expected to provide a database that will allow producers to estimate their emissions. Hopkins is concerned about the open-ended amnesty period which he suspects is part of a delaying action aimed at postponing 23 the day when livestock producers have to begin reporting on their farms' emissions.

Ed Hopkins: Two years from now, after these studies are done, I predict that the livestock industry will say to EPA, well, we didn't monitor enough farms, we don't really know exactly what the emissions are, we need to continue to study this and we need to be continue to exempt 24 us from the law while you do study it . And meanwhile don't forget the livestock industry is lobbying in congress today to get an exemption 25 from the public Right-to-know law.

Greg Allen: Cattle producers have not entered into the agreement with the EPA, and are strongly lobbying congress for an exemption from environmental laws. And the agreement is far from popular, even among pork producers. It requires farmers to pay a fine anywhere from 200 dollars to 100,000 dollars depending on the size of their operations. Fewer than 10 percent of the nation's 60,000 hog farmers have signed on. The EPA says that leaves the others, more than 50,000, open to potential prosecution 26. Back on his farm near Elma, Iowa, hog farmer Mack Schmidt is a strong supporter of the testing program. He says farmers need to come to grips with a new reality that, like every other industry, they too must comply with environmental laws.

Mack Schmidt: I don't think that we need to be given free reign 27 any more than any other industry, we've all got to be good citizens of this planet here, and, if indeed, we're contributing to it, let's find out what the problem is and then let's work to solve it.

Greg Allen: The EPA hopes to begin testing on chicken and hog farms by the summer; in the meantime, environmental groups are back in court, asking a federal judge to set aside the agreement and to order the agency to immediately begin cracking down on all livestock producers and the emissions that come from their farms.

Greg Allen: Greg Allen, NPR News.

Note------------
sow: a fully grown female pig;大母猪
jostle: to push or knock against someone in a crowd, especially so that you can get somewhere or do something before other people;挤, 推, 争夺
farrow: 一窝小猪, 猪的一胎, 下小猪
pungent: having a strong taste or smell;(指气味、味道)刺激性的, 辛辣的, 尖锐的, 苦痛的, 严厉的