A comprehensive summary of today’s judicial, legislative, and regulatory developments in agriculture and food. Email important additions to: camarigg at uark.edu
ANNOUNCEMENT: Join us Wednesday, November 16 at 12 noon (ET) for a free webinar: The Veterinary Feed Directive Rules and How They Will Affect You. Details and sign-in information here.
JUDICIAL:
ROBIN SILVER, M.D.; UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR, BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT; and PATRICIA GERRODETTE, Plaintiffs/Appellees, v. PUEBLO DEL SOL WATER COMPANY, an Arizona corporation; THOMAS BUSCHATZKE, in his official capacity as Director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources; ARIZONA DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES, an agency of the State of Arizona, Defendants/Appellants, No. 1 CA-CV 14-081 (Ariz.Ct.App. Nov. 8, 2016) involved approval of a land development application and the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) federal water rights. Plaintiff alleged defendant’s groundwater pumping would eventually interfere with groundwater rights within a conservation area. Appellate court noted that “the conservation area and the planned development sit over the same water table,” and found the superior court “erred in its consideration of the definition of ‘legal availability.’” Court vacated lower court’s judgment in favor of plaintiffs and upheld defendant’s interpretation of “legally available,” finding their process “adequately considers whether sufficient water will be continuously, legally, and physically available to satisfy the needs of the proposed user for at least one hundred years.” Case remanded requiring defendant consider “the unquantified priority federal reserved water rights of BLM, until such amount is quantified.” A copy of the opinion is available here.
REGULATORY: Includes FWS, FNS, and NOAA rules and notices.
FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE: Notice FWS announces availability of the final recovery plan for the endangered laurel dace, a small fish native to the Tennessee River Basin in Tennessee. Info here.
Notice announcing availability of a final comprehensive conservation plan and finding of no significant impact for the environmental assessment for the National Elk Refuge. Info here.
FOOD AND NUTRITION SERVICE: Notice of a revision of a collection package consisting of five components of State agency reporting and recordkeeping: a budget projection statement, a program activity report, State plans of operation updates, waiver requests and other plans and submissions such as advance planning documents for information systems and for electronic benefit transfer (EBT) systems. Details here.
NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION:
Rule that on October 18, 2016, NMFS published a proposed rule for Amendment 5b to the 2006 Consolidated Highly Migratory Species Fishery Management Plan based on the results of the 2016 stock assessment update for Atlantic dusky sharks. NMFS determined stock remains overfished and is experiencing overfishing. Info here.
Notice the SEDAR 50 assessment of the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico stock of Blueline Tilefish will consist of workshops and webinars: Stock Identification Work Group Meeting; Data Workshop; Assessment Workshop and Webinars; and a Review Workshop. Info here.
Notice the North Pacific Fishery Management Council Electronic Monitoring Workgroup will hold meetings on November 28 and 29, 2016. Info here.
Notice the Pacific Fishery Management Council is sponsoring a workshop to review methods used to model productivity in stock assessments. Info here.