Representatives Rick Crawford (R-AR), Lee Terry (R-NE), Mike McIntyre (D-NC), and Jim Costa (D-CA) introduced today legislation to prohibit EPA from disclosing the private information of poultry and livestock producers. The Farmer Identity Protection Act comes a year after EPA released producers’ names and other personal information to three environmental groups.
The release of personal information involved more than 80,000 producers in 29 states following Freedom of Information Act requests in February and April 2013, which EPA granted. EPA said it lacked statutory authority to prevent similar releases of personal and private information in the future. Senators Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Joe Donnelly (D-IN) introduced similar legislation in the Senate in July. It has since been referred to the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. A similar privacy provision was included in the House-passed version of the 2014 Farm Bill, but no such measure was included in the final law.
