At least according to the EPA who has now classified cow milk as oil because it contains animal fat. Along with this reclassification comes the fact that farmers are now required to create milk spill prevention plans:
“This is an example of where we have overreach by the department that defies common sense,” said Matt Smego, legislative counsel for Michigan Farm Bureau.
Smego said its an unnecessary regulatory burden that creates additional costs. He said it could cost $2,500 for a certified engineer to safeguard milk, plus more to construct secondary containment structures.
Michigan has 2,299 dairy farms. According to the Michigan Department of Agriculture, dairy is the leading segment of Michigan’s agricultural industry, providing a $5.1 billion impact on the state’s economy.
Who would think up something this fucking stupid? Our government. Who would support something this fucking stupid? The Sierra Club:
But Gayle Miller, legislative director of Sierra Club Michigan Chapter, said agricultural pollution probably is the nation’s most severe chronic problem when it comes to water pollution.
“Milk is wholesome in a child’s body. It is devastating in a waterway,” Miller said. “The fact that it’s biodegradable is irrelevant if people die as a result of cryptosporidium, beaches close for E. coli and fish are killed.”
My question is this, has such a scenario ever happened? Has a milk spilled filled with harmful bacteria every caused harm to a population? This sounds like a ploy to make life even more difficult for farmers through enacting stupid laws that benefit nobody besides the government (who get to employ more people to enforce these regulations).
Your government at work.
Milk? Really?
I mean yeah, I can buy “agricultural pollution” as a potentially serious problem, what with the livestock excrement and chemical fertilizers and all that, which could run off into waterways. It might be reasonable to ask farmers to take some sort of remediation measures if those are shown to be harming other people’s property.
But MILK?
Besides, considering that (unlike, say, manure, where you’d be a lot more likely to find e coli in large concentrations) the whole purpose of a dairy farm is to _collect_ the milk and then sell it, how much are they really going to be spilling into the environment anyway? Sure, there’s some spillage, but it’s got to be a pretty small amount, relatively speaking.