Groups Challenge EPA Refusal to Limit Slaughterhouse Pollution

Eight environmental groups are challenging the EPA’s decision to scrap wastewater standards for meat and poultry producers proposed by the Biden administration.

The groups, led by Cape Fear River Watch, petitioned the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Monday to review the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to withdraw the proposed effluent limitation guidelines, which were published in January 2024.

The proposed guidelines would limit phosphorus pollution from 126 meat processing plants nationwide and cut millions of pounds of nitrogen, fecal bacteria and grease, the groups said in a statement.

Existing guidelines apply to about 150 of more than ...