Judge Suggests EPA Petition, Not Citizen Suit, Is Proper Course on Factory Farm Emissions

摘要

A panel of federal appeals court judges appeared skeptical of a lawsuit filed by four Iowa residents who are seeking a court order to compel the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate air pollution from animal feeding operations, with one judge suggesting that they should have instead directly petitioned the agency (Zoofe v. EPA, D.C. Cir., No. 14-5187, oral arguments 4/2/15). Wallace Taylor, an attorney with the Wallace Taylor law firm in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, argued April 2 that the plaintiff-appellants weren't required to go through the petition for rulemaking process in order to challenge the EPA's inaction on the regulation of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide emissions from concentrated animal feeding operations.