Last week, Food & Water Watch attorneys representing 13 groups, appeared in federal court in a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency, for failing to effectively regulate factory farm water pollution.
One of the organizations being represented is Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement.
Oral arguments in the civil lawsuit lasted about one hour, where attorneys for the petitioners advanced two main arguments, one that EPA’s refusal to make any regulatory updates to its failed factory farm program runs counter to its obligations under federal law.
The other main argument is that EPA’s refusal to narrow its overbroad interpretation of the “agricultural stormwater exemption”, at the core of its factory farm program, is unlawful.
If successful, the lawsuit could force the EPA to bring thousands of unregulated factory farms under the umbrella of the Clean Water Act.
