Indiana group is suing USDA over the way it gives money to farms with thousands of animals

An Indiana nonprofit is challenging a federal rule change that allows livestock facilities with multimillion-gallon manure tanks to access federal dollars without an environmental review.

The rule change would make it easier to expand the so-called CAFOs, or confined animal feeding operations, which farmers say are essential to their economic success and environmentalists say foul the air and pollute streams.

Citizens Action Coalition, an Indianapolis-based group that advocates on energy and pollution issues, joined groups from Iowa, California and Arkansas, as well as three national groups, to sue the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

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At issue is a 2016 rule change that allows "medium" CAFOs to receive federal funds without performing an environmental review, exempting them from the typical public notice and comment period.

Instead, the FSA would use an environmental assessment worksheet to determine if a site needs a review.

The USDA, its Farm Service Agency, and FSA administrator and Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue are all named in the suit.

CAFOs are farming operations that raise livestock in confinement for more than 45 days per year. They are sized by the number of animals they contain, which varies by the species. A medium CAFO can hold up to 999 cows, 54,999 turkeys or 124,999 laying hens, for example.

Before the 2016 rule change, the FSA performed environmental analyses on potential CAFO sites in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act before distributing federal loans for those projects.

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This "provided a governmental check" on the environmental impacts of CAFOs and gave proper notice to "neighbors, nearby farmers, and advocacy groups," the lawsuit says.

Dirk Fillpot, a communications coordinator at the USDA, told IndyStar that the agency does not comment on pending litigation.

Since the rule change has been implemented, hundreds of loans have been distributed for CAFO facilities, including 130 loans in Indiana, the lawsuit says.

Emily Hopkins covers the environment for IndyStar. Contact them at 317-444-6409 or emily.hopkins@indystar.com. Follow them on Twitter: @_thetextfiles. 

IndyStar's environmental reporting project is made possible through the generous support of the nonprofit Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust.