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The members of a group seeking improved regulation of
factory farming voiced their concerns in a two-hour meeting with federal
Environmental Protection Agency officials on Tuesday and came away
believing that the agency may investigate allegations that Illinois EPA has
neglected its duties.
Illinois Citizens for Clean Air and Water petitioned
EPA in March to formally revoke the IEPA’s authority to issue certain
permits on the grounds that the state has failed to enforce the federal
Clean Water Act [see Dusty Rhodes, “Land of stinkin’,”
April 10]. This week, five leaders of the ICCAW met with a dozen EPA
officials in Chicago to air their concerns. Danielle Diamond, an attorney and research associate
in the Northern Illinois University Department of Anthropology, left the
meeting believing that EPA had taken the group’s concerns seriously
enough to formulate a plan of action. “They’re going to create a protocol for
how they’re going to evaluate the IEPA, and it’s going to be
molded after allegations in our petition plus the evidence we gave
today,” Diamond says. The ICCAW went to the meeting with a couple of new
helpers: Arnie Leder, who recently retired after 35 years with the EPA, and
Eric Schaeffer, former director of the EPA’s office of regulatory
enforcement, who resigned his post in 2002 after publicly questioning
President George W. Bush’s efforts to weaken the Clean Air Act and
other laws. Schaeffer went on to found the nonpartisan, nonprofit
Environmental Integrity Project, which lists power plants, refineries, and
factory farms as its top three areas of focus. The IEP has formally backed
the ICCAW petition. The IEPA was not represented at the meeting.
Contact Dusty Rhodes at drhodes@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in May 29 – Jun 4, 2008.
