EPA exempts milk from oil-spill regulations

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, in testimony at a series of hearings in recent months, has insisted that it was not the intention of the agency to include milk spills in the rule, which was first implemented in the 1970s.

To assuage Republican and agriculture groups’ concerns, the agency moved to explicitly exempt such spills from the rule. The agency had previously delayed compliance requirements for milk and milk containers from the rule.

“After working closely with dairy farmers and other members of the agricultural community, we’re taking commonsense steps to exempt them from a provision in this rule that simply shouldn’t apply to them,” EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said in a statement. “Despite the myths that have arisen about EPA’s intentions, our efforts have been solely focused on exempting milk and milk products from this regulation — and that exemption is now permanent.”

The White House completed review of EPA’s plan to exempt milk and milk containers from the rule Friday.

The spilled milk issue is one of several “fictions” about EPA’s intentions that Jackson outlined at a recent House Agriculture Committee hearing.