Policy & Legal

Factory Farms

Food & Water Justice seeks to bring transparency and accountability to the environmentally devastating practices of factory farming. Our legal and policy team also helps communities fight the expansion of factory farms that trap local farmers in an unsustainable and unjust industrial model.

Despite the fact that factory farms have been regulated under the Clean Water Act since the 1970s, it is well documented that they remain major sources of pollution. Food & Water Justice files cases to hold the agricultural industry responsible for managing its waste, and advocates for an end to abusive contracts for farmers in the poultry industry, as well as an end to extreme energy created by incinerating waste from factory farms, which has devastating consequences for the environment.

The factory farm industry also operates with little transparency. Despite being the largest source of pollution in many of our nation’s waterways, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) does not even know how many exist or where they’re located. Food & Water Justice works to force the EPA to gather industry information and keep it publically accessible under our open government laws. 

Water Pollution Trading 

One of Food & Water Justice’s primary efforts is to fight water pollution trading. Trading is built on the false premise that polluters have the right to use our public trust waterways as waste disposal sites.

While many environmental groups embrace trading as a means to reduce agriculture-related pollution, Food & Water Justice sees trading as yet another voluntary approach that will not only have little or no impact on pollution from farms. Trading also means that our wastewater treatment plants and coal-fired power plants can produce even more of these harmful pollutants. Food & Water Justice has filed a number of lawsuits to protect communities by establishing that water pollution trading is illegal under the Clean Water Act.  Learn more about pollution trading. 

Fracking

Food & Water Justice’s fracking work focuses primarily on pipeline fights in the Northeast and on defending local fracking bans enacted in communities across the country.

Water Privatization

Food & Water Justice supports legal efforts to stop public water resources and infrastructure from being bought out by corporations. When local water systems are privatized, rates increase and the quality of service decreases, while the utilities provide fewer jobs to the community.

Food Safety

We support legal efforts to make sure that our food is safe to eat and our food system is properly regulated. We make sure existing standards are enforced and work for new standards in areas like genetically engineered crops and food labeling.

Genetically Engineered Salmon

The FDA is considering whether to unleash genetically engineered (GMO) salmon into our food supply. This GMO salmon, which is designed to grow twice as fast as normal salmon, would be the first “transgenic” animal allowed into the U.S. food supply and would be unlabeled on grocery store shelves, giving consumers no ability to decide whether to eat this engineered food. Food & Water Justice supports legal efforts to stop the approval of GMOs such as the GMO salmon.