To Protect Nation's Waterways, New Lawsuit Challenges Trump Admin's Failure to Update Slaughterhouse Pollution Guidelines

The Trump administration’s decision not to issue upgraded regulations pertaining to pollution discharge from slaughterhouses into waterways sparked a lawsuit Wednesday from a dozen advocacy groups who say the move puts ecosystems and water supplies at risk.

“By not updating these nationwide standards, EPA is rewarding dirty slaughterhouses at the expense of the public,” said Sylvia Lam, attorney with the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP).

The lawsuit (pdf), filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York, was brought by animal rights, conservation, and community groups including Cape Fear River Watch, Center for Biological Diversity, and The Humane Society of the United States.

At issue is the EPA’s decision, published in the Federal Register in October, regarding “effluent guidelines.” The federal agency said revisions were “not appropriate at this time.”

The groups are challenging that assessment. The regulations for slaughterhouse emissions that go directly into waterways are in sore need of an upgrade, they said. It’s also problematic, the groups added, that the emissions that first head to sewage treatment plants before being released into waterways have had no guidelines.

There’s ample cause for concern.

The nation has thousands of slaughterhouses, many owned by deep-pocketed agriculture giants including Smithfield Foods and Cargill. The majority of these plants, about 4,700, can legally dump processed wastewater directly into waterways or into treatment plants.