• Participation is voluntary - you are not required to sign a consent agreement and signing a consent agreement is not an admission that your farm's past air emissions violated any law.

• Animal feeding operations (AFOs) in the egg, broiler chicken, turkey, dairy, and swine industries that meet the definition of an AFO under the federal Clean Water Act (CWA) may participate. See the Q&A section of the referenced Producer Information Guide to determine if you are eligible to participate.

• By participation, AFOs are protected from federal and state liability for past air emissions violations of federal laws, as well as air emissions during the monitoring study and data analysis and policy development period that follows the study.

• By signing a consent agreement, you are receiving no protections from nuisance or odor lawsuits under state or local law.

• A copy of the consent agreement may be obtained from EPA's Web site at: http://www.epa.gov/compliance/resources/agreements/caa/cafo-agr-050121.pdf

• You may also contact the MU Commercial Agriculture Program to obtain a paper copy.

• Signed agreements are due to EPA by Julys 1, 2005.

• Air emissions data will be collected during a 2-year national monitoring study to provide a method for estimating air emissions from animal feeding operations. Participants in the air compliance agreement may be asked to make their farm(s) available for this monitoring study. However, the chance that you will be asked to make your operation available for the study is minimal.

• Two one-time fees must be paid to participate in the consent agreement: a civil penalty and a monitoring study fee. The civil penalty that goes to the US Treasury ensures the legal protections and ranges from $200 to $1,000 per farm, based on the number and size of the farms included in an AFO's consent agreement submission. The monitoring study fee is determined by the number of AFOs that participate in the consent agreement within an animal sector. Industry Check-off dollars will fund the studies for swine and egg producers, so those producers will not have to directly contribute to their species' monitoring unless the cost of one of these studies exceeds the amount contributed by their Check-off.

• Potential Fees for "Example" Animal Feeding Operations (AFOs):
  • One 3000-head swine finisher AFO - $500 civil penalty; monitoring study fee paid by Pork Check-Off
  • One 200-head dairy AFO - $200 civil penalty; up to $2,500 monitoring study fund fee
  • Two 200-head dairy AFOs - $1000 total civil penalty ($500 per AFO); Up to $2,500 per AFO to support the study

• The Air Compliance Agreement includes provisions that will allow both integrators and contract growers to participate. These provisions also apply to AFOs that produce milk under contract with a cooperative or that supply heifers to dairy herds owned by a separate entity.

• Based on the results of the study, producers must either comply with the applicable federal regulations that emerge from the national air study or certify to EPA that their operation is below the regulatory threshold for the laws.

• EPA expects to apply the results of the air emission study to all eligible AFOs, whether or not they participate in the Air Compliance Agreement.

The accompanying Producer Information Guide provides background information on the EPA Air Compliance Agreement and additional information to help you decide whether or not to participate.

For more information on the Commercial Agriculture program, contact Rex Ricketts, 573-882-4553.