A U.S. court of appeals overturned a lower court ruling and blocked the disclosure of ownership information about concentrated animal feeding operations, Agri-Pulse reported. The appeals court determined that the EPA had violated the Freedom of Information Act by releasing personal information, including phone numbers and email addresses, of CAFOs.
“The unanimous decision by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis is a big victory for the American Farm Bureau Federation and the National Pork Producers Council, which sued EPA three years ago after it released CAFO information to environmental groups. The court reversed the decision of U.S. District Judge Ann Montgomery in Minnesota, who found that AFBF and NPPC had not been able to demonstrate standing on behalf of their members,” Agri-Pulse said.
The farm groups sued the EPA in federal court in Minnesota 2013 to block the release of ownership information. The Environmental Integrity Project, Food & Water Watch and Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement asked the court to allow them to intervene in the case, saying they wanted to “protect the rights of citizens to safeguard their waterways and communities from the many detrimental impacts of the factory farm industry represented by FB and NPPC,” according to a statement at the time.
Agri-Pulse added: “The case now goes back to the district court, where AFBF said the remaining question is whether the Farm Bureau and NPPC can obtain an injunction to prevent future releases of farmers’ and ranchers’ personal information.”