AAMP issues statement on EPA's proposed rule

• By: admin
• On: 12/19/2023 09:41:19
• In: Industry News

The EPA has released its proposed rule on Effluent Limitation Guidelines. AAMP Executive Director Chris Young has issued the following statement regarding the rule:

“In reviewing the new proposed EPA rule on Effluent Limitation Guidelines, AAMP is encouraged by the work EPA has done in the development of the proposed rule to protect the small business entities that make up the majority of our members. We had voiced concerns early on to EPA about the potential costs and devastating consequences of compliance for the small and very small processors. We are happy to see EPA responded to our concerns and minimized the impact of the rule on those businesses.

“AAMP is still concerned about the overall impact of the rule on the industry as a whole, and we would have liked to have seen EPA spend more time gathering data from a larger sampling of plants to get a better picture of the industry as a whole, rather than testing wastewater from a handful of plants. I think it would have been beneficial for both industry and EPA if there had been more of a collaboration between the two to come up with some real common-sense answers to these wastewater concerns.

“AAMP, and I believe the meat and poultry processing Industry as a whole, want to be environmentally responsible and protect the waterways around us, but I think that we are all better served by working together to find treatment solutions that are economically sustainable and do not force even one business to close.”

You can find more information from EPA in the link below: https://www.epa.gov/eg/meat-and-poultry-products-effluent-guidelines-2024-proposed-rule.
AAMP will have much more to say about this and will advise our members shortly.

A 1-page summary of the EPA options has been prepared by AAMP and is available for viewing here.