Washington State’s Clean Fuel Standard Doubles Down on Factory Farm Pollution

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Washington State's Clean Fuel Standard Doubles Down on Factory Farm Pollution

October 21, 2025

WASHINGTON - Yesterday, Washington State's Department of Ecology issued a final rule to implement its Clean Fuel Standard that doubles down on flawed policies that reward factory farms. This decision contravenes widespread public concern that the program will worsen pollution for rural communities, fail to address animal agriculture's climate impacts, and drive further expansion of factory farms and factory farm gas production.

While Ecology did adopt one important safeguard - requiring facilities to comply with environmental laws to participate in the state's program or face suspension - the agency failed to fix the core problem: avoided methane credits. Allowing factory farms to generate these credits under the Clean Fuel Standard creates perverse incentives that reward the most polluting manure management practices and encourage expansionunder the guise of climate action. This exacerbates harms to frontline communities and fails to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

Earlier this year, a coalition of organizations submitted a joint commenturging Ecology to eliminate avoided methane crediting entirely to prevent the creation of a program that rewards industrial livestock pollution and undermines Washington's climate, public health, and environmental justice goals.

"Washington had the opportunity to lead the nation by rejecting the mistakes made in California's Low Carbon Fuel Standard," said Molly Armus, Animal Agriculture Policy Program Manager at Friends of the Earth. "Instead, Ecology caved to industry pressure and extended the time mega-dairies can claim lucrative avoided methane credits, from 15 to 20 years, further entrenching a system that rewards the biggest polluters for producing more manure and more methane."

Communications contact: Lindsay Tice, [email protected]
Expert contact: Molly Armus, [email protected]

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