Congressman Chris Gibson is not claiming any credit, but is crowing that the Environmental Protection Agency indicated Wednesday that they won't treat spilled milk under the same rules that govern oil spills. Gibson met with EPA Regional Administrator Judith Enck Wednesday Feb. 16 to discuss a host of issues affecting the 20th Congressional District, including EPA dairy regulations. The EPA proposed to regulate milk because it contains a certain percentage of animal fat, which is a non-petroleum oil, and thus would be covered under the Oil Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure program. Dairy farmers would have been responsible for developing a spill prevention plan for milk equivalent to an oil spill prevention plan. But that is not going to happen.


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“Far too often, federal regulations have increased the cost of doing business and destroyed jobs. A prime example of this are these proposed EPA regulations, which dairy farmers across the 20th District have told me would decrease their profitability at a time when they are already struggling," Gibson said, in a statement. "This was a key topic at my Agriculture Advisory Committee meeting, and I have cosponsored legislation that would prevent this regulation. Thus, I was pleased to hear today that the EPA is empathetic to the plight of dairy farmers and will exempt them from these regulations when they are finalized this Spring."