Larry Stap, President of Save Family Farming, issued the following statement regarding the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision to uphold the EPA’s preliminary injunction against a group of Lower Yakima Valley Dairies:

“Many facts contradict EPA’s numerous false claims about dairies and groundwater nitrate contamination. Sadly, it appears no one within our judicial system has the courage to stand up to this agency’s rogue Region 10 office and its ongoing vendetta against a few dairy farms in the Lower Yakima Valley.

“While EPA Region 10’s hostile legal machine continues to bully local and state agencies on this issue, the federal agency’s relentless onslaught has already killed half of the Lower Yakima Valley dairies it began targeting over a decade ago.

“Now, the remaining dairies face the onslaught of EPA’s new, crippling demands, despite the fact that they’re redundant and unneeded.

“Every step of the way, it becomes more and more clear that EPA’s focus is not about science or protecting public health, but about crushing these dairies out of existence, leaving our rural communities and agricultural economy in ruins. This is a federal agency weaponising its power to achieve ideological goals at the expense of hardworking families.

“To add insult to injury, the appearance is that the courts didn’t even bother to read the arguments and facts presented by the dairies and their attorneys since there was no effort in the ruling to reference the evidence submitted. This leads us to question whether the decision was based on reason at all. Perhaps the courts have become yet another cog in the ideological machine, choosing to decide this case apart from any rational consideration of the facts.

“We remain hopeful that the next administration will not shy away from reining in the damage these unelected, embedded bureaucrats have inflicted on this community for years. It’s time to put an end to this abuse of power and ensure that family farms in the Lower Yakima Valley—and across the country—can thrive without fear of unwarranted government persecution.”