Advocacy group sues USDA over poultry operation loan guarante

Food & Water Watch has filed a federal lawsuit accusing USDA’s Farm Service Agency of failing to adequately consider environmental impacts before supporting a loan guarantee for a poultry operation on Maryland’s Eastern Shore two years ago. The nonprofit group said the loan guarantee for nearly $1.1 million in 2015 opened the door for construction of a concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) in an area already besieged by pollution from existing poultry companies. The lawsuit claims that FSA’s review of the environmental impacts of a new chicken plant proposed by One More Haul Farm “fell far short” of what is required under the federal National Environmental Policy Act.