A coalition of environmental and animal rights groups petitioned the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Wednesday to abandon a “sweetheart” deal with factory farm owners – and start enforcing air pollution regulations.
The 24 organizations, which include the Center for Biological Diversity, Food & Water Watch and the Southern Environmental Law Center, say in the petition that a 2005 deal signed by the EPA with owners of 13,900 animal feeding operations — so-called “factory farms” where animals are raised in confined settings instead of in pastures — has put many rural communities in a “purgatory of legalized air pollution.” Read more…
