Appeals court rules on environmental groups’ challenge to CAFO regulations

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit elected to toss a lawsuit filed by several activist groups aiming to force changes to the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) regulations.

The court sided with the EPA’s current approach to regulating livestock production, which includes studying water quality through its Animal Agriculture Water Quality Subcommittee, with pork industry involvement.

The National Pork Producers Council (NPPC), which presented oral arguments before the court last month, praised the decision. The court emphasized that the EPA’s decision to gather information before enacting new regulations was “reasonable” and aligned with the Clean Water Act, refuting claims by the group Food & Water Watch.

NPPC noted that the pork industry has long cooperated with regulators to ensure environmental sustainability on farms, arguing that major legal changes should come from Congress, not the courts. The rejected lawsuit, NPPC said, could have severely disrupted livestock production across the country by misinterpreting regulations and threatening due process.

Link to article: HERE