October 16, 2024

US judge rejects petition for tighter regulation of large livestock operations

A US federal judge rejected a petition from environmental activists for more strict regulation of large livestock operations in a win for the US meat industry.

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, based in San Francisco, the United States, threw out a lawsuit that would have changed how the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates concentrated animal feeding operations. Pork producers applauded the decision.

The lawsuit, filed and led by Food & Water Watch, challenged the EPA's decision last year to deny a petition that would have required all farms to obtain permits to operate their CAFOs unless they could prove they're not a source of pollution.

In their petition, activist groups argued livestock operations are releasing pollution into waterways in violation of the Clean Water Act, and that the EPA has an obligation under federal law to regulate discharge of animal waste.

In its decision, however, the court agreed with the EPA's approach to regulating livestock production, including the formation of a subcommittee to study water quality issues, saying it was important to "seek information about how best to tackle the problem" before crafting new regulations.

The EPA's current process is "reasonable and hardly at odds with the Clean Water Act's requirements," according to the court's decision.

Pork producers applauded the move, and had argued before the Ninth Court that the petition was "baseless."

"Major changes to long-standing federal laws can only come from congressional action, and it is inappropriate for these activist groups to seek to rewrite federal law through the courts when (the US) Congress has consistently rejected their outlandish demands," the National Pork Producers Council said in a statement.

- Agriculture Dive