EPA Must Finalize Strongest Possible Slaughterhouse and Rendering Plant Regulations

May 19, 2025

Slaughterhouses and rendering plants are polluting our rivers, lakes, and streams, fueling toxic algal blooms and “dead zones” across the country. These deadly phenomena threaten our drinking water, destroy aquatic life, and make recreational activities unsafe. What’s worse is a disproportionate number of these facilities are located in communities of color and low-income areas, fostering further environmental injustice.

Will you take a moment to urge EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin to finalize the strongest possible slaughterhouse and rendering plant regulations?

For starters, it’s his legal obligation. Federal law requires the agency to set water pollution standards for all industries. Yet for nearly 20 years, EPA —whose core mission is to protect human health and the environment by implementing environmental laws, enforcing regulations, and conducting research—has failed to update regulations for slaughterhouses and rendering plants. Some facilities are still working under pollution rules established in the 1970s!

While EPA has proposed a new regulation in response to lawsuits filed on behalf of Waterkeeper Alliance, Waterkeepers Chesapeake, Cape Fear Riverkeeper, and several other groups, EPA’s proposed changes are still insufficient and will leave pollution unchecked. EPA’s current proposal — which includes three possible options -– will not stop slaughterhouses and rendering plants from polluting waterways and shifting their pollution burden onto struggling communities.

Shockingly, EPA conceded in its proposal that a more effective option referred to as “Option 3”could reduce pollution by up to 83% for nitrogen and 94% for phosphorus, cutting millions of pounds of pollution annually. Yet, the agency proposed adoption of the weakest option. EPA’s choice to adopt a weaker standard, despite acknowledging that a stronger option could reduce phosphorus pollution by up to 94%, is a stark reminder of how corporate influence and regulatory capture often drive decisions that prioritize industry profits over public health and environmental protection. This disregard for the well-being of communities is a blatant failure of EPA to uphold its duty to protect people and the environment.

EPA is denying its duty to all of us by not fully committing to this solution. That is why we need YOU to take action NOW!

Tell EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin to adopt the strongest possible water pollution standards by adopting a strengthened version of Option 3 to protect our communities and our waterways from further devastation.

We cannot afford more delays or half-measures. EPA must uphold the requirements set forth in the Clean Water Act such as to:

• Adopt best available technology standards to reduce nitrogen, phosphorus, ammonia, and E. Coli pollution and apply them to facilities that discharge directly to waterbodies or indirectly via municipal wastewater treatment plants.
• Set unconditional long-overdue pretreatment standards for indirect dischargers – which make up the vast majority of this industry – to finally control nitrogen, phosphorus, and other harmful pollution in wastewater that is sent to municipal wastewater treatment plants.
• Close loopholes that allow facilities to bypass treatment requirements by land applying their waste or discharging to septic tanks.
• Implement comprehensive monitoring and ensure compliance within three years of the final rule.

Let’s demand the action that all of our communities and environment deserve! Together, we can stop this harmful pollution.

Submit your comment today urging EPA to hold polluting industries accountable and adopt the strongest possible water protection standards.