Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement v. Council on Environmental Quality

Six organizations led by Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement filed a lawsuit in federal court in the District of Columbia challenging the Council on Environmental Quality’s amendments to the NEPA regulations. It is the fifth lawsuit filed challenging the amended regulations; the cases are pending in four district courts. The plaintiffs in this case alleged that the amendments give “yet another free pass” to the concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) industry by restricting NEPA review of federal funding for the CAFO industry. The complaint alleged that CAFOs and the slaughterhouses they supply “cause and exacerbate climate change and harm rural community and economic health, drinking water quality and quantity, air quality, endangered species, the confined animals themselves, and other aspects of the human environment.”