WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) – Several nonprofit groups have filed suit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over allegations that it has failed to act on a petition they submitted years ago regarding what they claim is one of the largest sources of air pollution in the county.
The Humane Society of the United States, Association of Irritated Residents, Environmental Integrity Project, Friends of the Earth and Sierra Club filed a complaint on Aug. 23 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against Environmental Protection Agency Administrator E. Scott Pruitt and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency citing the Clean Air Act.
According to the complaint, the plaintiffs allege that they submitted a petition for rulemaking in 2009 to request that the EPA "regulate concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) as a source of air pollution under the Clean Air Act."
The plaintiffs hold Pruitt and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency responsible because the defendants allegedly delayed their response to the plaintiff's petition for eight years and this "delay allows serious, preventable harms to public health and the environment to persist," the suit states.
The plaintiffs seek declare that the defendant's failure to issue a final decision on the plaintiff's petition violates the Clean Air Act and the APA, order the defendant to make a final decision within 90 days, all legal fees and any other relief as the court deems just. They are represented by Daniel Lutz of the Humane Society of the United States in Washington, D.C. and Abel Russ of Environmental Integrity Project in Washington, D.C.
U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia case number 1:17-cv-01719-CRC