WASHINGTON — Food & Water Watch along with a slew of other activist groups are suing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for its failure to act “within a reasonable time” regarding a petition filed five years ago for strengthened clean water rules.

In 2017, over 30 groups filed a rulemaking petition in an effort to modify EPA’s regulation of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) under the Clean Water Act. The groups said the EPA’s failure to respond to their petition violates the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), which requires agencies to respond to petitions in a timely manner. 

The plaintiffs claim that EPA is not practicing its authority to protect waterways and communities from pollutants. According to the Clean Water Act, CAFOs are defined as “point sources” of pollution, requiring polluting CAFOs to follow discharge permits that restrict their pollution discharges into rivers and streams. Only a fraction of CAFOs have the required permits, and the permits that do exist inadequately protect water quality, Food & Water Watch said.

“This petition provided EPA with a roadmap for how it must finally regulate factory farms as required under the Clean Water Act and explained why action is critical,” said Food & Water Watch Legal Director Tarah Heinzen. “EPA’s refusal to even answer simply confirms that it will not hold this industry accountable without legal and public pressure. We will not let EPA continue to delay while factory farms pollute with impunity, endangering public health and fouling our rivers and streams across the country.”