Waterkeeper Alliance and Allies Sue EPA for Abandoning Slaughterhouse Water Pollution Rules
By: Waterkeeper Alliance
Waterkeeper Alliance joined a coalition of 10 environmental and public health organizations, including Cape Fear River Watch, in filing a federal lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for abandoning critical regulations aimed at curbing water pollution from slaughterhouses and meat processing facilities.
The petition, filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, challenges EPA’s August 28 decision to withdraw new rules that would have, for the first time, limited phosphorus discharges from at least 126 meat industry plants nationwide – preventing over eight million pounds of phosphorus pollution annually, along with nine million pounds of nitrogen and other harmful contaminants like fecal bacteria and grease.
“EPA is legally obligated to enforce the Clean Water Act but is instead claiming unchecked discretion to ignore its mandates in favor of deregulatory priorities,” said Kelly Hunter Foster, Senior Attorney at Waterkeeper Alliance. “Allowing slaughterhouses and rendering plants to continue discharging millions of pounds of pollutants each year contradicts the agency’s own findings that the revised standards are needed and would improve water quality, protect public health, and benefit local economies.”
Slaughterhouses and meat processing plants discharge an estimated 112 million pounds of nitrogen and phosphorus pollution annually, contributing to harmful algal blooms and dead zones in U.S. waterways. These toxic conditions disproportionately impact over 60 million people – especially in low-income communities and communities of color – who live near rivers and streams degraded by industrial meat processing pollution.
The lawsuit was filed by Earthjustice and the Environmental Integrity Project on behalf of Waterkeeper Alliance, Cape Fear River Watch, Rural Empowerment Association for Community Help, Humane Society of the United States, Food & Water Watch, Environment America, Comite Civico del Valle, Center for Biological Diversity, and the Animal Legal Defense Fund.
This is the third legal challenge by Waterkeeper Alliance and partners to hold EPA accountable and compel it to update pollution standards for the meat industry. Despite a 2021 commitment to revise these outdated standards – and a legally binding consent decree requiring final action by August 31, 2025 – the agency abruptly withdrew all proposed options just days before the deadline, citing “economic stressors” despite internal analyses showing minimal economic impact to industry.
Quote List:
Jen Duggan, Executive Director, Environmental Integrity Project:
“In a shameful betrayal of communities across the U.S., the Trump Administration is walking away from long-overdue, common sense rules to control the slaughterhouse industry’s dumping of a grotesque amount of waste into American waterways. The failure to require modern pollution controls is against the law and jeopardizes public health.”
Alexis Andiman, Senior Attorney, Earthjustice:
“The slaughterhouse industry racks up hundreds of billions of dollars in sales each year, and it generates pollution that harms millions of Americans. EPA knows it’s possible to reduce slaughterhouse pollution without raising prices but instead, it’s chosen to prioritize corporate profits over clean water and public health.”
Hannah Connor, Environmental Health Deputy Director, Center for Biological Diversity:
“The U.S. meat industry slaughters some 18,000 animals a minute, creating a waste stream full of blood, fecal bacteria and disease-causing pathogens that adds up to one of our country’s largest industrial sources of nutrient pollution. Now Trump officials are killing a rule designed to curb discharges of that nasty wastewater into our rivers and streams and safeguard people and wildlife.”
John Rumpler, Clean Water Director, Environment America: “We reject the idea that America must accept dead fish, toxic algae and polluted waters when existing technology can dramatically reduce pollution from meat and poultry plants. It’s time for new slaughterhouse rules — strong enough to protect America’s rivers, lakes and streams.”