# Environmental group sues EPA over withheld nitrate study records  
**Published:** 2026-07-02T10:00:34.000Z  
**Source:** [Nebraska Examiner](https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2026/07/02/repub/epa-sued-over-public-records-request-for-nitrate-research/)  
**AI-generated:** yes (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001)  
**Canonical:** https://lincolne.news/article/environmental-group-sues-epa-over-withheld-nitrate-study-records

The environmental group Food & Water Watch sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday for failing to release documents related to a stalled assessment of nitrate's health effects, according to a report from the [Nebraska Examiner](https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2026/07/02/repub/epa-sued-over-public-records-request-for-nitrate-research/).

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., alleges the EPA has not responded to a Freedom of Information Act request submitted in August 2025 seeking information about an assessment examining the human health impacts of nitrate and nitrite exposure. Food & Water Watch contends the EPA has neither released documents nor provided a timeline for compliance.

The assessment was initiated in 2017 under the EPA's Integrated Risk Information System, or IRIS, but was suspended in 2019 during the first Trump administration and resumed under President Biden in 2023. The project webpage has not been updated since November 2023. The EPA announced in July 2025 that it was eliminating its Office of Research and Development, which housed IRIS.

Food & Water Watch argues the assessment would have provided critical research to support updating the EPA's drinking water standard for nitrate, which has remained at 10 parts per million since 1992. Experts have raised concerns that ingesting nitrate at much lower levels than the current federal standard may still increase the risk of developing adult and pediatric cancers.

The lawsuit carries particular significance for Nebraska, where the state has one of the highest nitrate levels in the U.S. and the highest pediatric cancer rate west of Pennsylvania. Areas severely threatened by nitrate include the Platte River Valley stretching across central and east-central parts of the state, the Elkhorn River Valley in northeast Nebraska and the Republican River watershed.

Food & Water Watch Senior Staff Attorney Tyler Lobdell said the FOIA request would reveal whether the agency has "abandoned the assessment." The EPA did not respond to requests for comment on the lawsuit or the status of the nitrate analysis.

## Sources

- [Nebraska Examiner](https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2026/07/02/repub/epa-sued-over-public-records-request-for-nitrate-research/)
- [Food & Water Watch - Food & Water Watch Sues Trump EPA Over Withheld Nitrate Health Assessment Records](https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/2026/06/29/food-water-watch-sues-trump-epa-over-withheld-nitrate-health-assessment-records/)
- [Nebraska Public Media - Many Nebraskans still under threat of high nitrate in drinking water](https://nebraskapublicmedia.org/en/news/news-articles/many-nebraskans-still-under-threat-of-high-nitrate-in-drinking-water-report-finds/)

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This article was generated by AI (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001) based on source material from Nebraska Examiner, enriched with 3 web searches. The original source is available at https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2026/07/02/repub/epa-sued-over-public-records-request-for-nitrate-research/.