A study to measure air emissions of toxic animal waste at factory farms across the United States is being led by Purdue University’s Dr. Al Heber, a professor in agriculture and bioengineering.

The purpose of the National Emissions Air Monitoring Study is to discover if there are large farms — defined by the Environmental Protection Agency as confined animal feeding operations — exceeding emissions levels set by the EPA, and where those farms are located.

More than 1,000 farms are participating in the project, including some in Indiana. The Indiana Department of Environmental Management, or IDEM, monitors 625 confined animal feeding operations in the state, which comprise 20 percent of IDEM- regulated farms.

Heber is working with universities in other states to measure average hourly and daily emissions of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide, two major components in toxic animal waste emissions. The research team set up detection sites in 2007 and will monitor emissions for the next two years.

Heber gave the EPA the first set of emissions data from the study Feb. 29.

“It’s a huge study,” Heber said. “There are potential (federal) regulations in the future where this data is important and a lot of states are waiting for this study before moving forward with regulations.”

The study also will give researchers — and consequently federal and state regulators and farmers — an idea of what specific animal-related activities, such as feeding, are correlated to emissions.

“It will be helpful not only to the EPA, but producers themselves. They want to know this, they want to be better neighbors,” Heber said.

The impetus behind the study comes from lawsuits against large farms in several states, such as Missouri, Ohio and Oklahoma, over toxic emissions from animal waste exceeding acceptable levels.

The EPA told the livestock industry it would forgive participating producers’ past failures to report emissions for participating in the study and none of the participating farms would be sued.

“Some farms have been taken to task or sued by neighbors because it’s alleged that they were emitting too much of these compounds,” Heber said.

Once the study is complete, the EPA and farmers would start fresh in maintaining compliance with emissions requirements.

Heber also hopes the study will better aid the EPA and state regulators in determining when and where emissions are coming from, especially now that the EPA is considering dropping requirements that farms report the release of hazardous substances to the air from animal waste.

The EPA uses the reports for administrative purposes — there are no limits on emissions, simply a requirement that producers document and report them.

The purpose of reporting emissions is so the EPA can notify emergency organizations when hazardous substances are released.

“We’re very concerned,” said Jesse Kharbanda, executive director of the Hoosier Environmental Council, Indiana’s largest nonprofit environmental group. “Obviously the key emissions being reported are documented even at low levels to injure the respiratory system.

“When these data are withheld or not reported … you simply have to rely on generic observation, but you wouldn’t be able to attribute (emissions) to specific operations.”

Kharbanda said dropping reporting requirements would have implications on the state and local levels.

In Clark and Floyd County, large quantities of toxic emissions are not a major issue because the average size of farms is smaller than would be required to report to the EPA. Some farms in Harrison and Washington County would be affected.

Indiana statutes regulating air emissions and operations at confined animal feeding operations and smaller operations defined as confined feeding operations by the state are more strictly monitored than required by federal law.

“Indiana created (confined feeding operations classifications) to further protect the environment and make sure large factory farms are safe and the community is protected,” said Barry Sneed, communications director at IDEM.

Without the annual reports from farmers, officials and residents in rural communities may find it more difficult to pinpoint the location of toxic emissions and correct the problem.

The National Emissions Air Monitoring Study will have a complete report of the results of the study in 2010. The EPA has not yet dropped the emissions reporting requirements for confined animal feeding operations, and the agency is accepting public comment until March 27.