Air Quality Takeaways
Takeaways are key points detailed and referenced in the Air Quality section
Animal Ag and Air Quality
U.S. industrial animal agriculture generates significant air pollution that causes serious environmental damages and over 10,000 deaths annually.
The impacts of animal ag air pollution remain largely invisible to American society.
Animal ag air pollution is complex, underestimated, mostly unmonitored, and nearly entirely unregulated.
Ammonia
Ammonia (NH3), a nitrogen compound, is the central air pollutant from animal agriculture.
Ammonia is generated by factory farms at levels that are often 10 to 50 times the level at which the EPA requires both federal and community notice for all other industries.
About 70% of anthropogenic U.S. ammonia emissions is from animal ag.
Over the last 25 years, ammonia emissions have increased about 15%, primarily due to animal agriculture; other major air pollutants have been sharply reduced.
Ammonia has negative impacts in 3 ways:
– Direct health impacts include respiratory disease for factory farm animals, workers, and local communities.
– Ammonia is a key component of PM2.5, the largest cause of human mortality due to environmental factors.
– Ammonia is a form of nutrient pollution, devastating waterways, terrestrial ecosystems, and wildlife.
Due to the lack of regulations, factory farms are incentivized to increase ammonia emissions, thereby lowering the nitrogen levels in stored manure so it can more easily meet land application and water pollution restrictions.
PM2.5
PM2.5 is the cause of about 90% of air pollution-related deaths in the U.S.
Agriculture is the source of ~20-25% of PM2.5, almost all from ammonia. Animal ag is responsible for about 15-20% of PM2.5.
Ammonia from factory farm manure and feed crops has become a steadily increasing factor in the formation of PM2.5 in light of the reduction of other air pollutants.
Limiting ammonia from agriculture is considered the most cost-effective method to reduce PM2.5 pollution.
Ammonia-generated PM2.5 from animal ag is responsible for more than 10,000 deaths yearly in the U.S.; there are no safe levels of PM2.5.
Like most negative externalities of animal agriculture, PM2.5 risks from ammonia emissions are typically underestimated and underreported; impacts on wildlife and natural systems are mostly unexplored.
The EPA recently reduced the annual target levels for PM2.5 in an acknowledgement of the severe health risks.