Farm Animal Transparency (FAT)’s weekly Environmental Watch — a digest of environmental permits, litigation, and settlements involving companies in the meat, poultry, and seafood supply chains. Full details, classifications, and sources for every matter live on the Environmental Watch tracker.

Oklahoma poultry-litter settlement: Tenth Circuit stays the judgment — but declines, for now, to vacate it

The biggest development this week. On August 18, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit granted Oklahoma’s motion to stay the district court’s December 19, 2025 judgment against Tyson Foods, Cargill, George’s, Peterson Farms, Cal-Maine, and Simmons Foods pending appeal. Press reporting says the court declined to vacate the judgment for now and will hold off ruling on the pending appeals while the matter returns to the district court — where Judge Frizzell must decide whether to withdraw or release his judgment so the July 10, 2026 settlement ($41.671 million relief fund, $420,000 in penalties, and, per the Attorney General, $1.9 million for an independent compliance monitor) can take effect. If he refuses, the appellate process resumes and the State can renew its vacatur request. The settlement is still not final: it requires both vacatur of the December 2025 judgment and dismissal with prejudice, and its six-month vacatur window closes on or about January 10, 2027 — now under five months away. Full tracker page →

Ganaderos Borges (Puerto Rico): not-guilty pleas; plant may keep operating under conditions

Following the August 12 indictment of Ganaderos Borges, Inc. and four individuals on conspiracy and Clean Water Act counts over alleged discharges from the Naguabo slaughterhouse’s retention lagoon, Puerto Rico press reports that the arrested executives have appeared in federal court — the company’s president pleaded not guilty and was released on unsecured bail — and that a federal judge is allowing the plant to continue operating on the condition that it complies with the environmental regulations the indictment alleges it violated. All charges remain allegations; the defendants are presumed innocent unless convicted. FAT classifies this as litigation pending.

Animal-waste air-emissions appeal: no change

In Rural Empowerment Association for Community Help v. EPA (D.C. Cir. No. 25-5354), merits briefing closed August 3 and oral argument has still not been scheduled on the public docket. The EPCRA farm-reporting exemption remains in force while the appeal proceeds. Full tracker page →

Oakridge Dairy: no change

No developments located this week on the Somers, Connecticut digestate-storage permit approved in July. FAT is still watching for the final written permit and conditions, any appeal, and groundwater or well data. Full tracker page →

Pacific Seafood suits and the slaughterhouse wastewater-rules challenge: no change

No new filings or orders located this week in the three Clean Water Act citizen suits against Pacific Seafood entities (Warrenton, Oregon and Quilcene, Washington) or in Waterkeeper Alliance v. EPA, the Ninth Circuit challenge to EPA’s withdrawal of the proposed meat and poultry effluent-guidelines update. Pacific Seafood tracker → · Waterkeeper v. EPA tracker →

New matter this week

JBS Greeley slaughterhouse: Colorado sued over years of unpermitted air pollution

FAT is adding a matter that predates this digest series but had not yet been tracked. On April 7, 2026, the Center for Biological Diversity sued the Colorado Air Pollution Control Division in Weld County District Court, alleging regulators have failed for roughly four years to act on JBS’s operating-permit application for its Greeley, Colorado beef slaughterhouse while the plant emits particulate matter, ammonia, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, and methane from boilers, cookers, dryers, and wastewater-treatment operations without the required permit. The group also served JBS with a 60-day notice of intent to sue under the federal Clean Air Act; FAT has not located a filed federal suit. These are the plaintiff’s allegations — no court has adjudicated any violation, and JBS’s response should be reported as the company’s position. FAT classifies this as a permit dispute / litigation pending.

Also on FAT’s watch list: Shenandoah Valley Organic (the “Farmer Focus” chicken brand) in Harrisonburg, Virginia — repeated pretreatment-permit notices of violation reported in June 2026. No escalation to formal enforcement located this week. Not yet a tracker matter.

Dates to watch

• Coming weeks — Judge Frizzell’s response to the Tenth Circuit’s August 18 stay: whether he withdraws or releases the December 2025 judgment so the Oklahoma settlement can take effect.
• October 1, 2026 — extended deadline for attorney-fee motions in the Oklahoma district court.
• Fall 2026 — possible oral-argument scheduling in the D.C. Circuit animal-waste air-emissions appeal.
• On or about January 10, 2027 — the Oklahoma settlement’s six-month vacatur window closes; without vacatur and dismissal, the settlement becomes unenforceable.

Notes for Dirk (remove before publishing)

The Oklahoma tracker page (11584, still a draft) was updated directly with the August 18 stay, the compliance-monitor figure, and refreshed sources — nothing to apply manually. Decisions pending: (1) whether the new JBS Greeley air-permit matter gets its own tracker page (it is in the tracker doc but has no page, so the digest section above carries the full detail and no tracker link); (2) whether Ganaderos Borges gets a tracker page or stays digest-only. Sources for this week’s items: Oklahoma AG release (oklahoma.gov/oag), KGOU (Aug. 19), Feedstuffs, El Nuevo Día (English) on the Ganaderos Borges conditions, and Center for Biological Diversity / Colorado Sun on JBS Greeley.

Farm Animal Transparency (FAT) — farmanimaltransparency.com — is a nonpartisan, nonprofit research project. FAT reports allegations as allegations and adjudicated findings as findings; see each tracker page for classification and sources. Sign up for research updates to receive this digest by email.

FAT keeps the most recent six months of weekly Environmental Watch reports published. Older reports are archived and available upon request — email dirkadams@farmanimaltransparency.com. See all tracked matters at the Environmental Watch index.