Revealed: Tyson Foods dumps millions of pounds of toxic pollutants into US rivers and lakes
www.theguardian.com
Nitrogen, phosphorus, chloride, oil and cyanide among the 371m lb of pollutants released by just 41 plants in five years

Tyson Foods dumped millions of pounds of toxic pollutants directly into American rivers and lakes over the last five years, threatening critical ecosystems, endangering wildlife and human health, a new investigation reveals.

Nitrogen, phosphorus, chloride, oil and cyanide were among the 371m lb of pollutants released into waterways by just 41 Tyson slaughterhouses and mega processing plants between 2018 and 2022.

According to research by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), the contaminants were dispersed in 87bn gallons of wastewater – which also contains blood, bacteria and animal feces – and released directly into streams, rivers, lakes and wetlands relied on for drinking water, fishing and recreation. The UCS analysis, shared exclusively with the Guardian, is based on the most recent publicly available water pollution data Tyson is required to report under current regulations.

Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20240430115519/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/apr/30/tyson-foods-toxic-pollutants-lakes-rivers

  • @disguy_ovahea
    20•8 months ago

    Two words: Chevron Deference. Forty years ago, SCOTUS ruled that a court defers to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes, as long as the judge finds the interpretation to be reasonable.

    Basically, Chevron said, “Trust us, what we’re doing is ok. We should know, because we’re experts in this field.” and the Supreme Court agreed. So now if the EPA brings up a corporation on charges, the corporation is its own expert witness in court.