Water Quality
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—February 6, 2023
International Trade: U.S. Requests Second USMCA Arbitration Over Canada’s Dairy Tariff-Rate Quotas 🌾
On January 31, 2023, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced that the U.S. has requested—for the second time—that an arbitration panel adjudicate the U.S.’s claim that Canada’s administration of its dairy tariff-rate quotas (TRQ) violate the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). A January 2022 arbitration panel decision found Canada’s TRQ eligibility criteria were a USMCA violation. According to the U.S., Canada’s resulting minimal change to TRQ eligibility does not remedy the underlying violation. The new arbitration request reasserts TRQ eligibility and adds TRQ allocation […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—January 30, 2023
WOTUS: Ag Groups Challenge New WOTUS Rule 🌾
On January 18, 2023, several agricultural advocacy groups and the state of Texas filed complaints in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas Galveston Division seeking to vacate the recently published final rule defining “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS) under the Clean Water Act (CWA). Am. Farm Bureau Federation v. U.S. EPA, No. 3:23-cv-00020. Among these advocacy groups are the American Farm Bureau Federation, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, the National Pork Producers Council, and others. The advocacy groups argue that the new final rule […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—January 9, 2023
Water Quality: D.C. Circuit Court Vacates and Remands Conowingo Dam License 🌾
On December 20, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued an opinion vacating and remanding the license for Constellation Energy Generation, LLC’s Conowingo Dam. Waterkeepers Chesapeake v. FERC, No. 21-1139. The court concluded that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) exceeded its statutory authority under section 401(a)(1) of the Clean Water Act (CWA) (33 U.S.C. § 1341(a)(1)) by granting the March 2021 license under a circumstance not enumerated in the CWA. The court stated the CWA only allows FERC […]
Shale Law Weekly Review—Week of December 5, 2022
Methane Emissions: DOI and BLM Announce Proposed Rule to Limit Methane Emissions on Public Lands ⚡
On November 28, 2022, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced a proposed rule which would place limits on gas flaring on public lands, require technology upgrades where economically feasible, and require leak detection and waste minimization plans by operators. The proposed rule would also compensate the federal government or Indian mineral owners when gas is used for excessive flaring.
GHG Emissions: PA Approves Emergency Rule Limiting VOC Emissions
On November 28, 2022, the Pennsylvania Environmental Quality Board announced that it had adopted an […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—Week Ending July 22, 2022
Antitrust: Federal Poultry Processing Wage Suppression Suit Alleging National Conspiracy Survives Motions to Dismiss 🌾
On July 19, 2022, U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland issued an opinion on five motions to dismiss the third amended complaint in this 2019 putative class action case titled Judy Jein, et al. v. Perdue Farms, Inc., et al. No. 19-2521 (USDC MD), based upon Sherman Act antitrust violations on behalf of workers at various poultry processing plants. The class action alleges that the defendant manufacturers conspired to depress wages and share compensation data in order to do so. The twenty-six […]
Shale Law Weekly Review—Week of June 6, 2022
Municipal Regulation: PA Senate Bill on Utility Regulation Proceeds to House for Consideration ⚡
On May 25, 2022, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Local Government Committee approved SB 275 for full consideration by the House. SB 275 would amend Title 53 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes and prohibit municipalities from adopting restrictions against or discriminating against utility service providers on the basis of the type of energy provided. SB 275 would also prohibit municipalities from adopting policies which interfere with an individual’s ability to use the services of a utility service provider that is “capable and authorized.” Sen. Gene Yaw, […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—Week Ending June 3, 2022
Food Policy: USDA Announces “Framework to Transform Food Systems” 🌾
On June 1, 2022, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced details of a set of actions collectively called a “Food Systems Transformation” framework, funded by American Rescue Plan Act and other pandemic relief legislation, to serve the purposes announced in Executive Order 14017 (America’s Supply Chains) and “to benefit consumers, producers and rural communities by providing more options, increasing access, and creating new, more, and better markets for small and mid-size producers.” The initial announcement outlined over $3 billion of investment in at least 16 USDA programs to […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—Week Ending May 6, 2022
Avian Influenza: HPAI Confirmed at Thirteen Pennsylvania Commercial Poultry Operations 🌾
Between April 15 through May 14, 2022, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has confirmed thirteen commercial poultry premise/flocks diagnosed with highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in Pennsylvania — 8 in Lancaster County and 5 in Berks County. All premises have been quarantined, through orders of special quarantine, all birds have been depopulated, totally 4.166 million birds) and composted on site. In addition, all commercial poultry facilities within a 10-kilometer (6.2 mile) radius of the infected premises became part of a “Control Zone” […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—Week Ending April 22, 2022
Water Quality: EPA Response Finds ‘No Confidence’ in PA’s Phase III WIP, Gives State 90 Days to Submit Additional Plans 🌾
On April 19, 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sent a letter to Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary Patrick McDonnell responding to Pennsylvania’s draft amended Phase III Watershed Implementation Plan (WIP), submitted to EPA December 30, 2021. Although EPA “commend[s] . . . Pennsylvania for [its] “effort[s] to engage local leaders and stakeholders,” the letter identifies several deficiencies in Pennsylvania’s draft amended WIP and states that the plan “does not provide EPA with confidence that […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—Week Ending March 25, 2022
Animal Welfare: U.S. Supreme Court Will Hear Commerce Clause Challenge to California Prop 12 🌾
On March 25, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court, for the eighth time since January 7, 2022, considered the Writ of Certiorari filed by the National Pork Producer Council requesting the Court hear its appeal to overturn the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ July 28, 2021, decision that California’s Proposition 12 does not violate the U.S. Constitution’s Commerce Clause. National Pork Producers Council, et al. v. Karen Ross, No. 21-468. On March 28, 2022, with a one sentence order, the Court granted the petition and […]
