Meat Packers Set for Legal Fight Over Water Pollution Standards

Proposed EPA standards to control slaughterhouse effluent aim to cut pollution in the Chesapeake Bay and other waterways, but meat and poultry producers will argue during public hearings this month that the planned rules are too costly.

Slaughterhouse owners will “rush” Environmental Protection Agency officials with data showing the cost of compliance at public hearings scheduled for Jan. 24 and 31, said Ethan Ware, partner at Williams Mullen in Columbia, S.C., who represents food industry clients.

The EPA’s proposed effluent guidelines, announced in December, would revise wastewater discharge standards for meat and poultry slaughterhouses to cut nitrogen and phosphorus ...