EPA to Regulate Dairy Milk Spills as Oil Spills

Hotair ^ | 02/06/2011 | Jazz Shaw

[SeekAndFind]

No, it’s not a headline from The Onion. It appears to be real. The Wall Street Journal editorial board provides the details:

Two weeks ago, the Environmental Protection Agency finalized a rule that subjects dairy producers to the Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure program, which was created in 1970 to prevent oil discharges in navigable waters or near shorelines. Naturally, it usually applies to oil and natural gas outfits. But the EPA has discovered that milk contains “a percentage of animal fat, which is a non-petroleum oil,” as the agency put it in the Federal Register.

In other words, the EPA thinks the next blowout may happen in rural Vermont or Wisconsin. Other dangerous pollution risks that somehow haven’t made it onto the EPA docket include leaks from maple sugar taps and the vapors at Badger State breweries.

Thank God the EPA has finally stepped in and realized the critical milk spill dangers which have been plaguing this nation since its inception. Fortunately for many of our younger readers, you don’t recall how it was in the bad old days before the EPA came into its full powers. Why, in our day, my own mother used to feed us hot dogs that were boiled in water rather than being cooked on an open flame. And – prepare yourselves – she would dump the hot dog water right down the sink.

I can only imagine the number of harmless carp in the Erie Canal and Hudson River who died at this woman’s hands.

The EPA clearly has far too much time on its hands. We’re looking to cut costs. This is a hint, Washington. You don’t need to get rid of the agency entirely, but a rapid, sharply focused review of the mission and the resource requirements should clearly be in order after this. I’m sure we can trim more than a bit of fat here.

[Lurker]

You don’t need to get rid of the agency entirely,

Actually they do, and very soon please.

[La Lydia]

But does the spilled milk reg require them to cry? This is just another encroachment of the government on our lives and livelihoods that is going to push up the cost of living.

[MsLady]

Ok time to end EPA funding.

[Lazlo in PA]

You are telling me that there is OIL in my Milk?

[Flash Bazbeaux]

“I’m sure we can trim more than a bit of fat here.”

Just make sure you dispose of the trimmed fat in an EPA approved manner.

[Jack Hydrazine]

What will happen if there is a breast milk spill?

[massgopguy]

“A carton of milk was spilled at the Salemwood School in Malden, MA today causing an evacuation of the school and a full cleansing of the facility by HAZMAT crews. The school will be closed until further notice.” - This of course is a dramatization.

[WayneS]

But the EPA has discovered that milk contains “a percentage of animal fat, which is a non-petroleum oil,” as the agency put it in the Federal Register.\

What tipped them off? Was it the FDA-mandated food label listing the fat content?

[WayneS]

You don’t need to get rid of the agency entirely...

Why not?

[WayneS]

...for now...

[Texas Fossil]

It is time for the EPA to experience “crying over spilled milk” as we defund the agency.....

[KarlInOhio]

Have farmers been dumping excess milk into the rivers? I would hate to live down stream of a dairy farm which dumped ten thousand gallons of excess milk into the river to dispose of it and it ended up smelling like the expired-for-a-week carton in the back of my refrigerator.

Between all the government production quotas on milk along with the inability to tell the cow that you only need five gallons from her today instead of ten, I could see that a lot of milk is disposed of on the farm.

[muawiyah]

The current argument is that EPA is simply preparing a regulation that will clearly establish an "exception" for milk.

Frankly EPA didn't initially have any jurisdiction on milk and there's already a law on the books regarding the quality required of large milk storage tanks ~ so there's really no reason for this rule.

It's kind of like if your local police force wrote an exception for crime occurring in a distant city. Kind of a meaningless exercise ~

[boomop1]

They are an unchained menace, bunch of NAZI enforcers of nonsense.

[Oldpuppymax]

Another ingenious method of legitimizing the EPA budget!!

[Texas Fossil]

You don’t need to get rid of the agency entirely...

Why not?

Ask yourself, what would be the "worst" thing that would happen if the agency was closed altogether? Think about that. Then consider what it costs to operate and what U.S. businesses spend on "complying". Together, is there a positive cost/benefit equation? Answer: NO! (Bye Bye EPA)

[mtg]

Geez, don't tell the government this, but I spilled milk on my table at breakfast this morning. I don't want to... (sob) go to jail.

[GraceG]

[ But the EPA has discovered that milk contains “a percentage of animal fat, which is a non-petroleum oil,” as the agency put it in the Federal Register.\
What tipped them off? Was it the FDA-mandated food label listing the fat content? ]

Most tasty cookies have oils in them, are they going to have to hazmat the dangerous cookie spills that occur? What about a Milk and Cookie spill, oh the humanity!!!!

[Constitutionalist Conservative]

Why, in our day, my own mother used to feed us hot dogs that were boiled in water rather than being cooked on an open flame. And – prepare yourselves – she would dump the hot dog water right down the sink.

We still do that.

Is that bad?