A southeastern New Mexico company’s plans to convert a cattle plant into a horse slaughterhouse has hit another roadblock, this time over an environmental dispute that the company’s attorney blames on the Obama administration putting politics over policy.
Blair Dunn, who represents Valley Meat Co. of Roswell in its more than yearlong effort to get approval to slaughter horses, says the U.S. Department of Agriculture keeps changing the rules because it opposes horse slaughter.
USDA officials referred questions to the Justice Department, which did not immediately respond to a phone call seeking comment.
Valley Meat’s application to resume domestic horse slaughter has ignited an emotional, national debate over whether horses are livestock or domestic companions. The company wants to ship horse meat to countries where it is consumed by humans and sold for things like zoo food.
The issue has divided horse rescue and animal welfare groups, ranchers, politicians and Indian tribes about what is the most humane way to deal with the country’s horse overpopulation and the rising number of neglected and starving horses as the West deals with persistent drought.
Since the company passed its inspection in late April, officials have been dragging their feet on giving the plant final approval to open by questioning whether it needs a permit under the federal Clean Water Act for discharging waste into water, Dunn said. The plant, he said, doesn’t discharge anything into water, and such a permit was never needed during the 20 years the plant slaughtered cattle.
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