Groups argue to Court of Appeals in factory farm fight

Opening briefs have been filed in the lawsuit brought forth by a coalition of public interest and environmental groups in what has become an on-going fight targeting factory farms.
On Feb. 26, the Food & Water Watch filed the brief in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Food & Water Watch represents 12 organizations across the country, including Dodge County Concerned Citizens. The groups are seeking to expand and strengthen factory farm pollution regulation under the Clean Water Act, regulation they claim the industry has evaded for at least a half century.
In particular, the case challenges the Environmental Protection Agency’s denial of a 2017 petition for rulemaking to revise the agency’s failed regulations.
“America’s tens of thousands of factory farms are flushing unimaginable quantities of contaminated animal waste into America’s waterways,” said Tarah Heinzen, legal director for the Food & Water Watch. “While the EPA refuses to act, it’s only getting worse.”
Heinzen said Biden’s EPA cannot hand wave its role in this mounting clean water crisis any longer. “We need real action from federal regulators to crack down on factory farms’ free pass to pollute. Our lawsuit seeks to finally upend more than 50 years of ineffective factory farm water pollution regulation,” she said.
The lawsuit is asking the Court of Appeals to reject EPA’s denial and require it to reconsider key reforms proposed in the 2017 petition that have the potential to expand and strengthen water pollution permitting for factory farms, also known as concentrated animal feeding operations or CAFO.
In the 64-page brief filed last week, the groups argued that the EPA’s refusal to make any updates to its failed factory farm program runs counter to its obligations under federal law. It also claims the EPA’s plan to study factory farm water pollution rather than regulate it as federal law requires is unlawful.
The groups contend that the EPA’s refusal to narrow its overbroad “agricultural stormwater exemption” for factory farm pollution is unlawful. “This regulatory loophole unreasonably exempts a huge swath of harmful factory farm discharges from regulation and has single handedly enabled thousands of factory farms to evade Clean Water Act permits altogether,” the groups argued.
The lawsuit points out how decades of research make clear that EPA-authorized CAFO practices are driving the water pollution crisis.
The Trom family of Westfield Township heads up the Dodge County group, which has been at the center of the factory farm debate for many years. The local group has filed various lawsuits during that time.
Other groups involved in the current lawsuit include: Center for Biological Diversity, Center for Food Safety, Dakota Rural Action, Environmental Integrity Project, Helping Others Maintain Environmental Standards, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, Kewaunee CARES, Land Stewardship Project, Midwest Environmental Advocates, and North Carolina Environmental Justice Network.