The Government defines what is NOT a “Waters of the United States”
Gary Baise Commentaries Environmentalists want the Court to punish EPA. If the Court does so, a new chapter will be written for pesticide use. In my many efforts to unravel and explain the federal government’s sometimes baffling efforts to legally define the things that matter most to property owners, I have started by describing the…
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Farmers win big with dicamba ruling
Gary Baise Commentaries Farmers win big with dicamba ruling Agriculture wins a legal skirmish, but the battle over controversial weed control products continues. The U.S. Court of Appeals 9th Circuit on Friday, June 19 denied the National Family Farm Coalition, the Center for Food Safety, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Pesticide Action Network North America’s motion…
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Dicamba ruling shows lack of good (federal court) judgment
Gary Baise Commentaries Dicamba ruling shows lack of good (federal court) judgement How one judge seemingly influenced the decision to ban dicamba at the worst possible time in a farmer’s growing season. Much ink has been spilled over a June 3, 2020 opinion written by the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals vacating (ending) labels for three…
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Activists file motion to immediately stop dicamba use
Gary Baise Commentaries Environmentalists want the Court to punish EPA. If the Court does so, a new chapter will be written for pesticide use. Environmental activist groups are hopping mad after EPA allowed farmers to continue over-the-top in-season spraying of dicamba-based products through July 31, even after a federal court suspended its use last week.…
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Does the government’s definition for ‘ditch’ provide legal clarity?
Gary Baise Commentaries Does the government’s definition for ‘ditch’ provide legal clarity? The administration’s new water regulation is already being challenged in courts. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have finally published a final rule defining as precisely as possible the scope of waters that are regulated under the Clean…
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Washington State dairy sued for manure disposal
Plaintiffs enraged at ‘open dumping’ of manure on farm fields. Another Washington State dairy has been sued by environmental groups alleging that their storage, treatment, transportation, and disposal of liquid manure is a “solid waste” under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). The environmental plaintiffs in Washington State claim that Majestic Farms Dairy engages…
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California wins again on Proposition 12
Yet another judge rules against the U.S. Constitution to allow one state to impose its production rules on other states. The National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) and the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) were defeated again, as was all of American agriculture, by the state of California defending its Proposition 12 laws on animal housing. NPPC and AFBF filed an action…
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Supreme Court: Groundwater a point source under the Clean Water Act?
Supreme Court: Groundwater a point source under the Clean Water Act? Expect more lawsuits as judges try to determine if rainfall on a farm field seeping into a farm tile will be “a functional equivalent of a direct discharge.” In February 2018, the U.S. Court of Appeals 9th Circuit held that sewage pollutants at the County…
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Emergency Economic Injury Disaster Loan: Why aren’t farmers included?
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) has within its Title I Section 1110 entitled “Emergency EIDL grants.” The Small Business Administration (SBA) states on its website, “The SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) provides vital economic support to small businesses to help overcome the temporary loss of revenue they are experiencing as a result…
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Does CARES Act include wasteful spending? You decide
Questionable tax dollar outlays in the $1.76 trillion spending package. U.S. Senator Rick Scott, R, FL, sent a letter to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) last month urging the administration “…to rescind billions of dollars of wasteful and unrelated funding included in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act so this money can…
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