Posted January 20, 2015
A U.S. federal court has ruled that manure from livestock facilities can be regulated as solid waste, according to a Reuters article available here. Huffington Post also published the article hereand Environment & Energy Publishing here.
A dairy farm in Washington, Cow Palace Dairy, applied manure to the soil polluting the ground water, ruled Judge Thomas Rice of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington.
“The practices of this mega-dairy are no different than thousands of others across the country,” said Jessica Culpepper, an attorney at Public Justice that represented the plaintiffs.
In 2012, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) studied the extent of the contamination by testing 331 wells in the Lower Yakima Valley. The EPA found that 20 percent of the wells exceeded the federal drinking water standard for nitrate, according to Environment & Energy Publishing.
Nitrate contamination can be harmful to human health particularly infants. It has been linked to cancer and “blue baby syndrome,” a potentially fatal condition connected to babies fed formula mixed with contaminated water.
The court ruled that Cow Palace violated the “open dumping” provisions, which requires violators stop polluting and clean up any damage, according to Reuters.
The case, Community Association For Restoration Of The Environment, Inc. et al v. Cow Palace, LLC et al, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington, No. 13-CV-301, is scheduled to go to trial in March.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court recently reversed an appeals court ruling that ruled a Washington County farm couple was not responsible for manure run-off.
For more information on environmental law, please visit the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
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