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Cape Fear Riverkeeper Kemp Burdette collects water samples in the Cape Fear River near the Smithfield slaughter house in Tar Heel, N.C. (Justin Cook for Earthjustice)
Press Release March 26, 2024

Community, Environmental, and Animal Welfare Organizations Press EPA to Strengthen Water Pollution Control Standards for Slaughterhouses and Animal Rendering Facilities

Stronger standards would prevent hundreds of millions of pounds of pollution from reaching rivers and streams, helping to protect more than 22 million people

document March 26, 2024

EPA Comments: Slaughterhouse Clean Water Act Effluent Limitations Guidelines and Standards for MPP Point Source Category

Inadequately controlled water pollution from slaughterhouses and rendering facilities can make water unsafe for drinking, unfit for outdoor recreation, and uninhabitable for aquatic life, posing serious risks to human health and the environment, especially in vulnerable and under-resourced communities. After more than two decades, EPA finally has begun the process of strengthening water pollution control standards for these facilities, and the Agency now proposes to adopt the weakest of three regulatory options. EPA’s preferred option is inconsistent with the CWA and other federal laws.

document February 29, 2024

New Water Pollution Control Standards for Slaughterhouses and Rendering Facilities

On average, over 17,000 animals are killed each minute in slaughterhouses across the United States. Slaughterhouse byproducts such as fat, bone, and feathers are often sent to rendering facilities for conversion into tallow, animal meal, and other products. Both slaughterhouses and rendering facilities require a near-constant flow of water, and they discharge hundreds of millions of pounds of water pollution each year.

An industrial hog facility in North Carolina. Hog feces and urine are flushed into open, unlined pits and then sprayed onto nearby fields. The practice leads to waste contaminating nearby waters, and drifting as "mist" onto neighboring properties. (Friends of Family Farmers)
Press Release February 15, 2024

Coalition of Groups Submits Comments Urging EPA to Require Industrial Animal Feeding Operations to Report their Dangerous Air Pollution

Requiring animal feeding operations to report their toxic emissions of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide will help community members better protect their health

document February 15, 2024

Comments: EPA EPCRA AFOs Air Emissions

AFOs emit the extremely hazardous gasses ammonia and hydrogen sulfide, and these emissions pose serious threats to people living nearby, including people living in communities of color and low-income communities. EPCRA requires facilities to report emissions of extremely hazardous substances.

document January 22, 2024

Law360 Opinion: Farm Bill Gives Congress 2024’s Biggest Enviro Opportunity

The Farm Bill is the most important environmental bill Congress will address this year. Usually largely ignored by all but large-scale farmers and ranchers, agrochemical companies and food manufacturers — and their lawyers — it actually profoundly affects us all.

Press Release: Victory December 15, 2023

EPA Proposes Improved Water Pollution Control Standards for Slaughterhouses and Rendering Facilities

In response to lawsuits, EPA begins process of mandating pollution reductions

An industrial hog facility in North Carolina. Hog feces and urine are flushed into open, unlined pits and then sprayed onto nearby fields. The practice leads to waste contaminating nearby waters, and drifting as "mist" onto neighboring properties.
(Photo courtesy of Friends of Family Farmers)
Press Release August 16, 2023

In Response to Petition, EPA Announces New Federal Advisory Committee on Industrial Animal Factory Pollution

EPA’s announcement responds in part to a rulemaking petition submitted in October 2022 by a nationwide coalition of over 50 citizens’ groups and community advocacy, environmental justice, and environmental advocacy organizations, in partnership with Earthjustice

document August 15, 2023

EPA Response to Petition for CAFOs to Discharge Pollutants Under Clean Water Act

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) response to petition requesting Agency adopt a rebuttable presumption that Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) using wet manure management systems actually discharge pollutants under the Clean Water Act (CWA), and must apply for CWA permits. EPA denies this petition, and instead commits to pursuing strategy to evaluate means of improving the CAFO program.

From the Experts June 27, 2023

Agriculture, Climate, and 2023 Farm Bill (A 3-Part Blog Series)

About the 3-blog series on helping American agriculture become more resilient and climate-friendly:

From the Experts June 9, 2023

Agriculture, Climate, and 2023 Farm Bill (A 3-Part Blog Series)

About the 3-blog series on helping American agriculture become more resilient and climate-friendly:

Today, most cropland is a vast monoculture of industrial-scale, chemical-intensive commodity crops. (Scott Goodwill / Unsplash)
From the Experts May 31, 2023

Agriculture, Climate, and 2023 Farm Bill (A 3-Part Blog Series)

About the 3-blog series on helping American agriculture become more resilient and climate-friendly:

document May 4, 2023

Consent Decree: Cape Fear River Watch v. EPA

Plaintiffs Cape Fear River Watch, et al. filed complaint against Defendants the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Michael S. Regan, administrator of the EPA. Complaint alleges EPA failed to at least annually revise, if appropriate, the effluent limitations guidelines for the Meat and Poultry Products (MPP) industrial point source category, and failed to publish regulations establishing pretreatment standards for introduction of pollutants from MPP facilities into publicly owned treatment works.

(srdjan111 / iStockphoto)
From the Experts: Victory May 3, 2023

We Sued the EPA to Restrict Water Pollution from Slaughterhouses. And We Won.

As a result of our litigation, the EPA agreed to finalize new water pollution control regulations for slaughterhouses and animal rendering facilities by August 2025.

An industrial hog facility in North Carolina. Hog feces and urine are flushed into open, unlined pits and then sprayed onto nearby fields. The practice leads to waste contaminating nearby waters, and drifting as "mist" onto neighboring properties.
(Photo courtesy of Friends of Family Farmers)
Press Release March 9, 2023

Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to Hear Testimony Friday on Abuses at U.S. Factory Farms

The expansion of CAFOs, commonly known as factory farms, has caused a range of human rights abuses in the United States and across the American continents

Press Release: Victory March 1, 2023

In Response to Lawsuit, EPA Announces Timeline for First Revisions to Slaughterhouse Water Pollution Standards in Nearly Twenty Years

EPA agrees to strengthen standards for the nation’s largest industrial source of phosphorus pollution — and second-largest industrial source of nitrogen pollution — by 2025

Press Release February 3, 2023

Earthjustice Applauds Legislation to Rein In Factory Farms and Protect Farmworkers and Consumers from Harmful Pesticide Exposure

Earthjustice urges the Senate to hold the industry accountable and ensure consumer and worker safety at all levels of our food supply chain

Press Release January 25, 2023

FDA Can Curtail Antibiotic Crisis by Ending Misuse in Livestock Animals, Say Health Advocate Groups in New Lawsuit

The misuse of these medicines has contributed to the rise and spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria — a growing public health crisis responsible for 35,000 deaths and over 2.8 million cases of illness each year in the United States