Scientists call for revisions to EPA’s broiler-emissions models

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wants to use updated computerized models to guide regulation of air pollution by animal feeding operations, including broiler chicken farms. Live-production managers and others are supposed to use these models to determine whether a farm’s emissions exceed established limits for five major air pollutants, which would trigger regulatory permitting. However, a team of researchers with US-based universities recently conducted an “external review” of the EPA’s draft of these emissions models, which were published in August 2021. They found that the EPA models “are not appropriate for accurately or reasonably estimating emissions for a realistic range of broiler operations….” Read more