WASHINGTON – Senators Chuck Grassley and Joe Donnelly today introduced legislation that would protect livestock and poultry farmers from having their personal information released by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Grassley and Donnelly said the bill stems from the EPA’s release of the personal information of more than 80,000 livestock and poultry owners from across the nation to three activist groups. A large portion of the data disclosed to the activist groups did not meet the definition of a Consolidated Animal Feeding Operation. And, the data collected on Iowa farmers, the EPA disclosed information on people who owned as few as one pig, and another individual who owned 12 horses.
“This is just another in a pattern of egregious overreach by the federal bureaucracy. The idea that government knows best was bad for the IRS and it’s bad for the EPA,” Grassley said. “I heard from a lot of Iowans who were concerned with the EPA’s actions, and I doubt they’ll stop now. But at least we can try and make sure this particular instance doesn’t happen again. The EPA already has a lot of relationship building to do in rural American, and its behavior here didn’t win the agency any favors.”
“I am proud to join Senator Grassley in introducing legislation that would protect livestock and poultry farmers from having their personal information released by the EPA. It is unacceptable that earlier this year, the EPA released the personal contact information of over 80,000 livestock and poultry owners from across the nation, including many from Indiana. This blatant violation of privacy must not happen again, which is why I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this common sense legislation.”
The legislation does not prevent the EPA from collecting the information about where farmers’ operations are located. It also does not prevent EPA from disclosing information in the aggregate.
Several senators wrote the EPA on June 4 concerned about the EPA’s release of the personal information. The response from the agency outlined the rationale for the handling of the personal information, which was unsatisfactory for Grassley and Donnelly.
“Transparency is good for accountability, but putting the personal information of tens of thousands of farmers in the hands of environmental activists makes no sense. It’s par for the course at the EPA, and by the looks of the agency’s response, they aren’t going to end this reckless behavior. It’s time for Congress to step in and fix the problem,” Grassley said.
Grassley and Donnelly filed a similar amendment to the farm bill, but it was not brought up by the Senate leadership for consideration.
