Trump administration backtracks on Iowa water safety rules

It’s the latest in a series of EPA moves that critics say weaken protections for the state’s drinking water.

The Biden administration proposed a rule that would have imposed phosphorus emission limits on 126 meat industry plants across the U.S, including in Iowa. Phosphorus is the number one polluter of the nation’s waterways.

Now, the Trump administration has rescinded the proposed rules. Food & Water Watch Staff Attorney Dani Replogle argued that the EPA is more concerned about profits than safe drinking water for Iowans.

“It was very clear from the record before EPA that this rule made sense,” said Replogle, “that there are slaughterhouses across the country that are already implementing the technologies that are going to achieve better water quality, and that the entire industry should be held to that standard.”

The lawsuit was filed in the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Industrial ag facilities and meat processing plants in the U.S. discharge about 112 million pounds of nitrogen and phosphorus every year, feeding algal blooms that contribute to low-oxygen zones in the nation’s waterways.

Replogle said they’re harmful to fish and other aquatic species, and they have a direct effect on Iowans.

“Clean glass of water. Trying to enjoy the beaches on hot day,” said Replogle. “I was just looking at some numbers in Iowa, and they’re experiencing record levels of beach closures, and a lot of that is due to toxic algal blooms that are directly linked to phosphorus pollution.”

Food & Water Watch says the proposed rules would have required the elimination at least 8 million pounds of phosphorus and an additional 9 million pounds of nitrogen and other pollutants every year.

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