Pending Settlement In RCRA Manure Rule Suit Will Avert Appellate Ruling

摘要

Environmentalists and several dairies in Washington state have proposed a settlement resolving novel litigation where a federal district court judge has already ruled that manure can be subject to Resource Conservation & Recovery Act (RCRA) "solid waste" regulations in some circumstances, blocking the potential for a precedential appellate decision on the subject. Advocates and industry May 11 submitted for court review a consent decree that, if approved, will settle three suits where the environmentalist groups Community Association for Restoration of the Environment (CARE) and the Center for Food Safety (CFS) claimed the dairy farms should be liable under RCRA for groundwater contamination from stored and land-applied manure even though Congress largely exempts manure from regulation.