Friday, October 02, 2015

Court rules against environmental groups' suing EPA over withdrawn rules on farm water data

A 2013 lawsuit "by a coalition of consumer, environmental and animal rights groups that could have made it easier for those groups to get information on livestock operations and their owners" has been  dismissed by a U.S. district judge, Spencer Chase reports for Agri-Pulse. The decision is likewise adverse to journalists reporting on issues related to concentrated animal feeding operations and the Clean Water Act.

The coalition filed the lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency after it withdrew a proposal in 2012 "that would have required information such as location of a CAFO's production area, CWA permit status, the number and type of animals confined and the number of acres available for land application of manure," Chase writes.

"The groups contended that the EPA's decision not to finalize the rule ran contrary to its obligations under the Clean Water Act," Chase writes. Judge Randolph Moss disagreed, saying that “no statute mandates that the EPA require that all CAFOs self-report.” (Read more)

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