Agricultural Law in the Spotlight
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EPA Settlement Agreement of Chesapeake Bay TMDL Compliance Litigation Discloses New Pennsylvania Enforcement Policies
On April 20, 2023, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation announced that a settlement agreement had been reached, subject to court approval, in federal litigation filed by the states of Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, the District of Columbia, and multiple environmental groups against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) seeking to compel enforcement of Pennsylvania’s Chesapeake Bay nutrient and sediment reduction obligations under the Clean Water Act and agreements and orders issued pursuant thereto. Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Inc. v. Environmental Protection Agency, No. 1:20-cv-02529.
A separate suit captioned State of Maryland v. Wheeler, No. 1:20-cv-02530, filed by the same […]
“Waters of the United States,” an Overview of the New Rule
Under the Clean Water Act (CWA), the U.S. federal government is responsible for regulating the discharge of pollutants into the “navigable waters of the United States” and has discretionary power to formulate the regulatory details and geographical scope of federal jurisdiction over those “navigable waters.”
The manner in which the government should define these “navigable waters” has been long discussed and, in recent years, intensively litigated. The U.S. Supreme Court last interpreted the meaning of “navigable waters” in Rapanos v. United States, 547 U.S. 715 (2006), where the Court considered the question of whether “navigable waters” […]
Overview of the USDA Report on Potential Economic and Food Security Impacts of the EU Farm to Fork and Biodiversity Strategies
The European Commission published in May 2020 the Farm to Fork and Biodiversity strategies as part of the European Green Deal, a major policy initiative designed to promote and advance sustainable economic activities in Europe. Among other things, the EU strategies proposed to reduce the use of agricultural inputs and lands by 2030. For example, the European Union is committed to reduce by 2030 both the use of “chemical” and “more hazardous” pesticides by 50%. Following the release of these strategies, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Economic Research Service (ERS) issued […]
The European Green Deal and Its Impacts on U.S. Agriculture: Overview of the EU Farm to Fork and Biodiversity Strategies
In May 2020, the European Commission published the Farm to Fork and Biodiversity strategies as part of the European Green Deal. The European Green Deal is a major policy initiative introduced in December 2019 by the European Commission to make the European Union carbon neutral by 2050. It focuses on different sectors of the economy, including agriculture, and aims to promote the efficient and productive use of resources to help curb the effects of climate change.
This article provides an overview of the EU Farm to Fork and Biodiversity strategies focusing on the […]
2022’s Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Outbreak
On February 8, 2022, the first case of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in U.S. commercial poultry (poultry housed for meat or egg production and resale) was confirmed by USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) in DuBois County, Indiana. Starting on that date, those areas of the country where commercial poultry and egg production are concentrated became the single-minded focus of every federal and state animal health official.
Generally, federal and state veterinarians, their trained staffs, and the nationwide network of federal and state veterinary laboratories toil in relative obscurity, tending to animal disease detection and control efforts that […]
Utility Scale Solar Leases: Understanding the Basics
Over the last two years, rural landowners in Pennsylvania, and reportedly across many parts of the country, have been approached by fledgling photovoltaic electricity generators or their agents, some with a track record and some without, to lease acreage upon which to generate electricity for sale to the grid. What these leases entail is important to understand before ever being presented with one.
Solar leases generally do not contemplate sharing of electricity or revenues but simply the payment of two forms of income to a rural landowner. The first is a few years of annual option payments in exchange for exclusive […]
Rapid Review: Window Closing on Legal Challenges to California’s Proposition 12
On July 28, 2021, the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a decision in Nat’l Pork Producers Council, et al v. Karen Ross, et al, No. 20-55631, holding that California’s 2018 Proposition 12 swine confinement requirements for in-state production, and in-state sales restriction for pork products not produced in accordance with them, do not violate the United States Constitution’s Commerce Clause. Proposition 12 prohibits the sale of pork in California from hogs: (a) born of a sow that cannot lie down, stand up, fully extend its limbs, or turn around without touching the […]
Rapid Review: White House Executive Order on Competition Features Agriculture Prominently
On July 9, 2021, President Biden issued an executive order titled, “Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy” requiring multiple executive agencies, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture, to assess industry practices, revise or promulgate regulations accordingly and develop and submit plans and analysis addressing topics of competition within their respective industries. The order also creates a White House Competition Council, which includes the Secretary of Agriculture (Secretary), to address unfair “concentration, monopolization, and unfair competition” in the U.S. economy. Specifically, according to the text of a White House Fact Sheet issued simultaneously, the […]
Office of U.S. Trade Representative Disputes Canada’s Tariff-Rate Quotas for Dairy Products in First USMCA Enforcement Action
Written by Chloe Marie – Research Specialist
In a press release issued on December 9, 2020, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced that it was taking action to challenge the tariff-rate quota (TRQ) measures recently released by the Canadian government on imported dairy products. U.S. Trade Representative Robert E. Lighthizer stated that these measures were unfair and harmful to American dairy farmers and were contrary to the terms of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which entered into force on July 1, 2020.
TRQs provide for a preferential rate of custom duty applied to a defined quantity of agricultural […]
Dean Foods Bankruptcy Estate Attempts to Recover Payments Made by Dean to Dairy Producers
Written by Brook Duer, Staff Attorney
On November 24, 2020, a commercial collections law firm named ASK LLP, headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota and hired to represent the Southern Foods Group, LLC formerly d/b/a Dean Foods (“Dean”) Chapter 11 bankruptcy estate, mailed demand letters asserting legal claims for the repayment of milk check proceeds against thousands of dairy producers (including cooperatives) throughout the United States. The claims seek the recovery of milk checks received from Dean within ninety days preceding Dean’s filing of bankruptcy (i.e. between August 14, 2019 and November 12, 2019).
The payments are alleged to be so-called “preference […]
