Farms could get pollution waiver.

By Wade Rawlins, The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Jan. 22--Federal regulators Friday announced a proposed agreement to monitor air pollutants from hog farms and other livestock producers to set the stage for the first federal emission standards for industrial farms.

The agreement the Environmental Protection Agency negotiated with the livestock industry calls for researchers to monitor emissions from a cross-section of 28 hog, dairy and poultry farms nationwide to gauge the pollutants wafting from different types of farms.

After two years of monitoring, EPA would devise methods to estimate emissions and set air standards for farming operations. Farmers who sign the agreement and pay a civil penalty would get a waiver from past air violations.

North Carolina is the …