A dozen grassroots organizations have challenged a USDA rule change that would make medium-sized animal confinements exempt from environmental review before receiving government-backed loans from the Farm Services Agency (FSA).
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on December 5, states that the rule change makes it harder for communities to protect themselves from environmental threats by animal production operations. The organizations say the FSA didn’t follow the proper procedures when it made the rule change in late 2016.