In Idaho, environmental nonprofit Snake River Waterkeeper is bringing a case against the J.R. Simplot Company for polluting the Snake River through its cattle feedlot in the community of Grand View. The feedlot, one of the largest concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) in the country, contains up to 150,000 cattle that can generate an estimated 5-10 million pounds of manure a day. Much of this animal waste then ends up in the Snake River. Sections of the river are so polluted with manure that, in certain months, the water is unsafe for local residents to even touch.
Making matters worse, the Snake River is a critical source of drinking water for rural communities across Idaho, and many residents do not have access to in-home water filtration systems needed to clean the drinking water. In addition, the water pollution has contaminated local fish populations and made them unsafe to eat, which is particularly problematic for the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, who have treaty rights to fish in the Snake River. Under the Clean Water Act, companies are required to obtain a permit for any facility releasing pollutants into a public water source, but Simplot has no such permit. The lawsuit, which recently defeated a motion by Simplot to dismiss the case, seeks to establish that the company’s discharge of animal waste into the Snake River is unlawful and must be stopped.
Challenging Segregation and Displacement Along Racial Lines
Finally, two of our grantees are challenging injustices that stem from historic practices rooted in systemic racism.
Texas community group Rethink35 is seeking to prevent the Texas Department of Transportation’s planned expansion of the I-35 highway in Austin, which runs along a historic racial segregation line dividing the city. In the 20th century, redlining practices confined Black and Latine people to the eastern part of Austin, while the central and western parts of the city were predominantly white. This segregation was intensified by the original construction of the highway in 1962, which destroyed homes and businesses belonging to people of color and increased toxic air pollution in their neighborhoods. Today, communities of color east of I-35 already suffer from higher rates of asthma and heart disease and have lower life expectancies.
