Friday, March 04, 2005

Waterkeeper Alliance: EPA Factory Farm Pollution Rule Illegal

A bit of good news:

Federal Appeals Court: EPA Factory Farm Pollution Rule Illegal

Waterkeeper Alliance
3/1/2005

NEW YORK (February 28, 2005) – A 2003 Bush administration farm pollution rule violates the Clean Water Act by allowing large-scale livestock farms to apply manure to land without federal or state oversight or public input, the U.S. Court of Appeals in New York ruled today. The ruling in Waterkeeper Alliance v. EPA was the result of a lawsuit filed by three conservations groups, which charged that the rule shielded factory farms from liability for damage caused by animal waste pollution.

The groups, Waterkeeper Alliance, Sierra Club, and NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council), filed the suit in March 2003. The Environmental Protection Agency had issued the rule in February 2003 under a 1992 consent decree between the agency and NRDC. It went into effect in April of that year.

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