For my final policy paper I have chosen to write about HR 185: Sewage Sludge in Food Production Consumer Notification Act. The bill is to amend the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and the egg, meat, and poultry inspection laws to ensure that consumers receive notification regarding food products produced from crops, livestock, or poultry raised on land on which sewage sludge was applied. To summarize the summary of the bill on Thomas.loc.gov, this bill would require that consumers be notified if any animal or vegetable were produced using sewage sludge. An exception is granted if sludge was applied to land at least a year before the food production commenced.
At first glance this bill seems simple and straightforward. Who could argue that they want to be notified when sewage sludge comes into contact with their food? But as much regulation is, this situation is complicated. The EPA has been accused of utilizing “industry friendly scientists” to promote the use of this wastewater on land applications. While one function of Congress is to mandate the direction of the EPA, it makes the situation complicated when the EPA is focusing on science that “approves” of the use of sewage sludge.
Interestingly, this bill has been introduced numerous times since 2007, garnering little support both within Congress and from the public. Perhaps if the media became more involved the public would become aware of this issue and voice their opinion. It is doubtful that most people would willingly accept the use of these volatile “biosolids” to grow their food.
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Erin and Shaun,
ReplyDeleteI have done some research and this is what I have found up to now:
The H.R. 890 Bill amends title VI of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978. The bill wants to establish a Federal renewable electricity standard for certain electric utilities, and for other purposes.
The bill is also known as: the ‘American Renewable Energy Act’.
The bill sets standards for energy affiliate. The term ‘affiliate’ when used in relation to a person which owns or controls or is under common ownership or control with that controls the energy source or production. It regulates biomass in common and federal land. It defines the incentive motivations for generating in these lands (credits, funds, etc.) renewable electricity, which means each of the following:
‘(A) wind energy;
‘(B) solar energy;
‘(C) geothermal energy;
‘(D) combustion of biomass or landfill gas;
‘(E) qualified hydropower; or
‘(F) marine and hydrokinetic renewable energy, as that term is defined in section 632 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007
What I understand is that the bill establishes a program to implement and enforce the requirements and (1) preserve the integrity, and incorporate best practices, of existing State renewable electricity programs; (2) rely upon existing and emerging State or regional tracking systems that issue and track non-Federal renewable electricity credits; and ‘(3) cooperate with the States to facilitate coordination between State and Federal renewable electricity programs and to minimize administrative burdens and costs to retail electric suppliers.
The goal of this bill is:
1. For each of calendar years 2012 through 2039, each retail electric supplier shall, not later than April 1 of the following calendar year, submit to the Secretary a quantity of Federal renewable electricity credits equal to the retail electric supplier’s base amount for the calendar year multiplied by the required annual percentage set forth in paragraph (2).
2. For each of calendar years 2012 through 2039, the required annual percentage shall be as follows:
2012 6.0
2013 6.0
2014 8.5
2015 8.5
2016 11.0
2017 11.0
2018 14.0
2019 14.0
2020 17.5
2021 17.5
2022 21.0
2023 21.0
2024 23.0
2025 through 2039 25.0
Erin
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting bill that you have chosen. It is amazing what goes on in the food world and how little we know. After reading Fast Food Nation I was stunned to learn how food is prepared. This will be interesting to see how this bill unfolds, and if the media catches wind of this. As they say ignorance is bliss and a lot of times we are very ignorant about what we eat.
Alicia
It seems that the "Jungle" rears its ugly head again. Where's a good ol' Upton Sinclair when you need one, eh? He would get more publicity toward this issue. I had no idea that some animals and food factories operate off of sewage sludge-- you would think PETA would be in on this. Perhaps we have all developed enough anti-bodies to kill whatever bacteria enters into our bodies through food that has not been processed well. Thus, the inattention to it because it seems few are getting sick. How many sewage sludge firms are there? Is there a particular animal that is more often on sewage sludge farms than not (are cattle on sewage sludge farms more than chickens, for example?) Wow-- I had no clue.
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