Posted November 12, 2013
The farm bill conference is currently considering a
provision that would prohibit the government from disclosing information about
farmers or their employees, according to a Las Vegas Sun article available here.
The provision, part of the House version of the
legislation, would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other
federal agencies from disclosing the addresses and other identifying
information of owners, operators, or employees of agricultural operations.
This provision would possibly prevent the public from
learning about nearby agricultural and large-scale livestock operations,
according to an article by the Associated Press available here.
The effort to make this information unavailable arose
after the EPA said it had mistakenly released names, email addresses, phone
numbers and other personal information about some farmers and employees twice
this year under the Freedom of Information Act.
The EPA later “determined it should not have released the information;”
and in at least one case, an environmental group that received that data
returned it.
Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), chairman of the Senate
Judiciary Committee, blocked a Senate amendment similar to the House proposal.
Leahy said, “We must take care not to draw a veil of
secrecy around important information about threats to the public’s health and
safety or government accountability.”
For more information on farm bills, please visit the
National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
