Groups Sue Montana Over Unlawful Factory Farm Water Pollution Permit
State permit lacks sufficient monitoring provisions to safeguard clean water
December 18, 2023 | Source: Center for Food Safety
On Friday, Upper Missouri Waterkeeper, Food & Water Watch and Center for Food Safety sued the Montana Department of Environmental Quality over its statewide water pollution permit for concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), also called factory farms. The groups are challenging Montana’s revised CAFO General Permit, issued November 15, 2023, which lacks monitoring provisions to track and measure water pollution from factory farms, a critical Clean Water Act requirement necessary to safeguard Montanan’s constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment.
Factory farms discharge pollutants such as nitrogen and phosphorus — two of the most pervasive pollutants degrading Montana’s waterways — as well as pathogens, heavy metals, and pharmaceuticals, linked to algal blooms, fish kills, birth defects and cancers. Following a federal Court of Appeals opinion in a 2021 lawsuit brought by Food & Water Watch and Snake River Waterkeeper, Montana factory farm water pollution permits must include monitoring provisions.
“Montana’s failure to require pollution monitoring at dirty factory farms amounts to allowing these facilities to operate in a black box. Without proper oversight and enforcement, a permit is little more than a piece of paper,” said Food & Water Watch Staff Attorney Dani Replogle. “The courts to address this issue are crystal clear that the Clean Water Act requires CAFO water pollution permits to include critical monitoring provisions; the Department of Environmental Quality’s willful disregard of this fact will not stand in court.”
“Montana is the home of the most beautiful rivers and lakes on the planet, renowned for its fishing and recreation, as well as its organic farming,” said George Kimbrell, legal director for the Center for Food Safety. “There is absolutely no place in Big Sky country for mega factory farms to be allowed to pollute waterways without responsible regulation.”