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33 Geo. Env't L. Rev. 151 (2020-2021)
Polluting 'til the Cows Come Home: How Agricultural Exceptionalism Allows CAFOs Free Range for Climate Harm

handle is hein.journals/gintenlr33 and id is 155 raw text is: Polluting 'til the Cows Come Home: How Agricultural Exceptionalism Allows CAFOs Free Range for Climate Harm RYAN LEVANDOWSKI* ABSTRACT Despite strong opposition under the Trump administration, recent US. cli- mate policy proposals continue to focus on reducing the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by some of the most polluting sectors-from transportation to electricity generation-but one high-polluting industry has been overlooked for decades: animal agriculture. Although animal agriculture, especially beef pro- duction, accounts for a significant amount of highly potent greenhouse gases, including methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N20), regulators have not sought to curb emissions from livestock and their waste. Instead, the sector enjoys numerous and longstanding freedoms from environmental regulation- part of a system that agricultural law scholars have deemed agricultural exceptionalism-perpetuated by virtue of our reliance on, and traditional notions of, agricultural production. However, agricultural trends over the past few decades have led to a model of highly concentrated and industrialized ani- mal agriculture that bears little resemblance to the family farm. With the rise of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs), facilities collocating hundreds to thousands of animals and their waste on small areas of land, the animal agriculture industry, more than ever, resembles the conventional model of a greenhouse gas-emitting source. This Note expands upon the pervasive regime of agricultural exceptionalism and analyzes some of its ramifications in the climate context. In particular, this Note examines the scope of climate impacts from CAFOs, the failure of federal regula- tion to address those impacts, and the potential of alternative methods-namely, common law climate litigation-as a substitute for regulatory intervention. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ................................................. 152 I. Animal Agriculture is a Significant Contributor to Climate Change ..... 153 * Georgetown Law, J.D. 2020; The George Washington University, B.A. 2016. © 2020, Ryan Levandowski. The author thanks Professor Lisa Heinzerling and the editors of the Georgetown Environmental Law Review. 151

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