United States-Horse slaughtering.

UNITED STATES-HORSE SLAUGHTERING IS BACK.

Legislation to allow investor-owned horse slaughterhouses in Montana, USA, and limit opportunities for legal action against them has become law.

Governor Brian Schweitzer had until Friday to act on the legislation, but with no action by him, the bill automatically went into law.

House Bill 418 included some protection against court injunctions that would stop or delay horse slaughterhouse construction.

The measure sponsored by Montana Rep. Ed Butcher also limits the kind of legal challenges that forced the last US slaughterhouses, which were in Illinois and Texas, to close in 2007.

Earlier this week, Schweitzer rejected the limit on legal action on the basis it would strip people of appeal rights important in environmental protection.

The legislature then rejected the changes Schweitzer wanted.

Butcher said during the session that the governor’s amendments would make the bill "an empty shell because nobody’s going to invest $5-6 million in a business in Montana if they’re going to be harassed".

Schweitzer has said that as an owner of livestock and horses, he supports the humane processing of horses to produce meat for human consumption.

Elsewhere, Tenn. Rep. Frank Nicely has introduced a bill in his state modeled after Montana’s bill.

North Dakota has also taken proactive measures to facilitate the opening of horse processing plants in that state.