Ben Tindall, Executive Director of Save Family Farming, issued the following statement on US District Judge Thomas Rice’s decision yesterday to grant the US Environmental Protection Agency’s request for a preliminary injunction against two Lower Yakima Valley dairies:
“Judge Rice’s decision supports EPA’s long-running campaign to use flawed science and legal harassment to target and attack dairies in the Lower Yakima Valley.
“With this misguided decision, Judge Rice is granting EPA Region 10 the ability to continue the unbridled assault that’s already killed off half of the dairies it originally targeted over 10 years ago.
“Despite EPA forcing these farms for over a decade to jump through countless hoops, spending millions on cutting-edge nutrient management systems and groundwater protections—regulations more stringent and costly than those required for any other dairy in the nation—they’re claiming it’s still not enough.
“At this point, it appears that nothing these targeted dairies do will ever be good enough to satisfy EPA and Judge Rice. No matter how much these dairies innovate or invest, it’s clear the EPA has already decided they’d rather see them dead and buried.
“The chilling message to the farming community here in Washington is clear: if the EPA and its allies decide they don’t like you, no amount of effort or expense will save you from their relentless mission to destroy you.”