Today, the National Pork Producers Council, American Farm Bureau Federation, US Poultry & Egg Association, and the United Egg Producers filed an intervenors’ brief in support of EPA in a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals lawsuit by Food & Water Watch and 12 other organizations seeking to expand and strengthen factory farm pollution regulation under the Clean Water Act, regulation that the industry has evaded for more than 50 years.

The industry groups’ brief applauds EPA’s refusal to strengthen its failed factory farm water pollution program. While agriculture is the nation’s leading polluter of rivers and lakes, factory farms, responsible for a significant share of that pollution, have largely evaded Clean Water Act regulation altogether. Today, fewer than one third of the country’s 21,000+ largest factory farms have Clean Water Act National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits. The permits that do exist fail to effectively control the vast quantities of waste these polluting operations generate.

In response, Food & Water Watch Attorney Emily Miller issued the following statement:

“The Farm Bureau and its allies are proud sponsors of decades of regulatory inaction — today’s intervenors’ brief pushes the same tired message. Factory farm polluters have been getting away with murder on EPA’s watch. See-no-evil water pollution regulation has enabled and enriched the deep-pocketed factory farm industry, while driving more than half a century of dirty water, sick communities, and environmental injustice.

“The fact remains that factory farms are enormous water polluters, and EPA’s regulations are egregiously out of step with what is required by the Clean Water Act. EPA needs to get back to work for the environment and the public — not industry lobbyists.”

Food & Water Watch and co-petitioners filed their opening brief in February, and EPA filed its answering brief in May. Oral arguments are expected to be scheduled for Fall 2024.