[fullwidth background_color=”” background_image=”” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”” padding_top=”20″ padding_bottom=”20″ padding_left=”0″ padding_right=”0″ hundred_percent=”no” equal_height_columns=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” menu_anchor=”” class=”” id=””][title size=”1″ content_align=”left” style_type=”underline solid” sep_color=”#000000″ margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” class=”” id=””]U.S. District Court judge has dismisses lawsuit brought by a coalition of consumer, environmental, and animal rights groups[/title][fusion_text]Friday, October 2nd 2015
A U.S. District Court judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought 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. The lawsuit was brought in 2013 by the Environmental Integrity Project, Food & Water Watch, Humane Society of the United States, Center for Food Safety, and Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement over the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision not to finalize the Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) Reporting Rule. According to the National Pork Producers Council, EPA’s proposed rule 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. EPA withdrew the proposal in July of 2012. The groups contended that the EPA’s decision not to finalize the rule ran contrary to its obligations under the Clean Water Act, but in his ruling, Judge Randolph Moss said that “no statute mandates that the EPA require that all CAFOs self-report.” Some contend that these groups wanted the EPA to collect this information so it could be obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. NPPC and the American Farm Bureau Federation are currently engaged in a lawsuit with EPA over the release of farmer data.
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