In a victory for U.S. farmers and ranchers in their ongoing fight to protect private and sensitive personal and financial records, a U.S. District Court judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by animal-rights and environmental activists against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The lawsuit was over the agency’s withdrawal of a proposed Clean Water Act rule that would have required livestock and poultry operations to report information about their operations. In their lawsuit, the activist groups claimed EPA’s withdrawal of the reporting rule was “arbitrary” because it lacked clear reasoning.
Judge Randolph Moss of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Circuit in Washington, D.C., who dismissed the suit, disagreed with the activist groups, saying the agency’s explanation for the withdrawal was “plain and coherent” and that it “adequately explained the basis for its decision.”