EnviroPolitics Blog

EPA Pulls Proposed Effluent Guidelines for Meat and Poultry

By Christopher H. Dolan, Amani B. Khoury, Amy L. Waite, Faegre Drinker

At a Glance

The EPA’s decision to withdraw the proposed revisions to the Clean Water Act Effluent Limitations Guidelines allows meat and poultry processing facilities to continue operating under their current discharge permits.
Facilities should be aware that existing state and local wastewater discharge requirements remain in effect and may be subject to future modifications.
Processors that discharge wastewater to publicly owned treatment works must monitor local pretreatment program requirements, which can be updated based on local conditions or evolving EPA guidance.

On August 28, 2025, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it will not move forward with revising the Clean Water Act Effluent Limitations Guidelines (ELGs) or establishing new pretreatment standards for the Meat and Poultry Products (MPP) sector. This final action, signed by Administrator Lee Zeldin, means that no new federal wastewater discharge requirements will be imposed on meat and poultry processing facilities at this time. The EPA’s decision is grounded in its statutory discretion and analysis of the rule’s potential impacts on the sector and the broader U.S. economy.

Background

On January 23, 2024, the EPA announced its intent to revise the technology-based ELGs for the MPP point source category. The proposal considered options for imposing more stringent discharge limits on pollutants such as total nitrogen and phosphorus, updating requirements for other contaminants, establishing new pretreatment standards for facilities discharging indirectly, and revising production thresholds for existing subcategories. The 2024 proposal was, in part, the result of a settlement of litigation filed by environmental groups. After receiving public comments to the 2024 proposal, EPA has now decided not to proceed with finalizing these revisions.

Why Did EPA Withdraw the Proposal?

At the heart of EPA’s decision is the recognition that the meat and poultry processing industry is critical to the nation’s food supply chain. The agency concluded that imposing additional regulatory requirements would not be appropriate under the Clean Water Act, citing the factors that follow.

Industry Economic Stressors

The sector has faced significant disruptions, including COVID-19-related supply chain issues, inflationary pressures, and disease outbreaks, including highly pathogenic avian flu and New World screwworm. Additional compliance costs risk further plant closures and reduced production capacity, which could diminish industry competitiveness and threaten the stability of the food supply chain.

Read the full advisory here

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Pa plastics plant Styropek settles with enviro groups for $22.6 M

By Julie Grant, Allegheny Front

Three Rivers Waterkeeper and PennEnvironment, along with the DEP, announced a settlement Thursday with Houston-based polystyrene maker Styropek and its facility, BVPV Styrenics LLC, in Beaver County.

In 2022 and 2023, the Waterkeeper group monitored the Ohio River near the newly built Shell cracker plant in Monaca, looking for nurdles, which are tiny plastic pellets. And they found a lot of them.

“Not only would you find it in the water, you’d find it on the banks as well,” said David Mazur, executive director of PennEnvironment. “So, the vegetation on the stream banks would be coated with tiny pieces of plastic, these pellets.”

But the nurdles weren’t coming from the Shell plant. Instead, they were traced to the Styropek plant’s wastewater pipe at Raccoon Creek, near the confluence with the Ohio River.

“You could literally sit there in a boat and look down, and it almost looks like a fountain, like there’s that pressure and it’s pushing these little beads of plastic to the surface,” Mazur said.

Read the full story

Pa DEP, environmental groups, reach $2.6M settlement with plastic maker Styropek (Post-Gazette)

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Did 25-year Princeton funding earn BP cover for its climate goals?

By Saptakee S, Carbon Credits.com

For a quarter of a century, Princeton University partnered with one of the world’s biggest oil and gas giants, BP. The alliance poured money into the University’s Carbon Mitigation Initiative (CMI), one of its most prominent climate research programs. On the surface, the deal brought prestige and resources. In reality, critics argue that it delayed the urgent work of phasing out fossil fuels.

Now, the partnership is ending, as reported by The Daily Princetonian. When the current contract expires in 2025, BP will no longer fund CMI. Both sides insist it’s a mutual decision, but the move comes after years of growing criticism, student protests, and investigations that raised serious questions about how fossil fuel companies use academia to protect their business model.

A Deal That Shaped Climate Research

The report further explained: when Princeton struck its deal with BP back in 2000, it was framed as a groundbreaking collaboration. BP’s funding supported research into carbon capture, storage, alternative fuels, and other mitigation strategies.

CMI quickly became one of the University’s flagship institutes, producing influential studies like the Net Zero America report, which mapped possible pathways for the U.S. to achieve net zero by 2050.

Of the five modeled scenarios, four kept fossil fuels in play through mid-century, relying heavily on carbon capture to offset emissions. Critics later pointed out that this conclusion closely mirrored BP’s corporate strategy: continue pumping oil and gas while showcasing carbon capture as a lifeline.

At the time, renewable energy was less developed and more expensive than it is today. But as wind, solar, geothermal, and battery technologies advanced rapidly, the wisdom of pouring billions into carbon capture began to look like a stalling tactic.

Prestige for BP, Problems for Princeton

For BP, the partnership was a communications jackpot. Having Princeton’s name attached to its climate efforts gave the company a veneer of credibility, even as it expanded drilling and exploration. Internal communications later revealed how BP staff highlighted Princeton’s research to bolster its case for carbon capture and hydrogen in U.S. policy circles.

Princeton and BP agree to end 25-year funding (Daily Princetonian)

For Princeton, the financial support was significant, but the cost was reputational. As the climate crisis worsened, the University found itself increasingly criticized for giving BP legitimacy. By 2022, Princeton announced it would divest from fossil fuels, yet the BP relationship remained—an uncomfortable contradiction for a campus under growing activist pressure.

Read the full story

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‘Affordable Alcatraz’: Challengers slam Cranbury NJ’s plan to seize 175-year-old family farm

By Susan Loyer, MyCentralJersey.com

CRANBURY – The township’s affordable housing plan, including its proposal to acquire by eminent domain a 175-year-old family farm on South River Road for 130 apartments, is running into more legal obstacles.

Four challenges to the township plan have been filed that call the farm site “woefully unsuitable” and a “dystopian location” because it is surrounded by warehouses.

The court papers also describe the proposed development as an isolated “Soviet-style” “Affordable Alcatraz.”

The challenges have been filed with the Affordable Housing Dispute Resolution Program by Henry Realty Company, which owns the farm at 1234 South River Road, the Fair Share Housing Center, which brought the statewide affordable housing litigation, Cranbury Housing Associates and Axira Inc. Onyx Realty.

All the challenges slam the township’s decision to use its power of condemnation to buy the farm, a move that has drawn national attention, including from the Trump administration.

“If Cranbury was looking for the single property in town least likely ever to yield even a single unit of affordable housing, they could hardly have picked a better site for that obstructionist and exclusionary impulse,” Anne Studholme, attorney for Axira and Onyx, wrote in court papers.

Read the full story here

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Spreading Deadly Chagas Disease, Kissing Bugs Creeping North

They bite at night and leave more than an itch.

*Chagas disease is triggered by a parasite that is transmitted via the feces of the triatomine bug. Photo Credit: CDC*

By Joe Lombardi, Jackson Daily Voice

Chagas disease is caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi and is primarily spread by triatomine “kissing” bugs.

Most infections in the United States were acquired in Latin America, but local transmission does occur in the US, particularly in the South and Southwest where the insects are more common.

The CDC estimates about 280,000 people in the United States are living with Chagas— many unaware — because early infection often has few or no symptoms.

Without treatment, 20 to 30 percent develop serious heart rhythm problems, heart failure, or digestive complications years later, according to the CDC.

The parasite is shed in the bug’s feces, not its bite. Infection happens when contaminated feces enter through a break in the skin or the eyes or mouth, often when a person scratches a bite.

Kissing bugs live outdoors under woodpiles, rocks, and in animal nests, and can occasionally enter homes, especially near where pets or rodents sleep.

Map of the US with states that have reported triatomine bugs highlighted.

Read the full story here

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Special Report: New Jersey’s shrinking shoreline

As Labor Day marks the waning of summer and communities up and down the Jersey Shore are facing the arrival of peak hurricane season, we bring you “Shrinking Shoreline,” an NJ Spotlight News special edition on the threats to New Jersey’s Atlantic shore.

From NJ Spotlight News | September 1, 2025

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