It has been a busy couple of weeks in the agricultural law world!

Photo by Diego San on Unsplash

*US Supreme Court rules in Proposition 12 challenge.  The United States Supreme Court issued an opinion in National Pork Producers v. Ross allowing California’s Proposition 12 to stand.  On Wednesday, we published a full summary of the Court’s ruling here.  To read a far shorter summary of the ruling, click here.

*US Supreme Court will not hear South Carolina Clean Water Act case.  The US Supreme Court has denied a petition for certiorari in Dakota Finance LLC v. Naturaland Trust, a lawsuit addressing when a citizen suit may be brought under the Clean Water Act.  Generally speaking, private citizens may bring lawsuits to enforce the federal Clean Water Act, unless the government is already enforcing the law.  In this case, the landowners argued that because the State of South Carolina issued a cease and desist order alleging a possible Clean Water Act violation and set a hearing date, the citizen suit subsequently filed by environmental groups was prohibited.  The groups argued that because they filed suit before the hearing and resulting fine and the prohibition was not triggered at the time they filed, their lawsuit was allowed. The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit agreed with the environmental groups that the citizen suit was permissible. [Read Fourth Circuit opinion here.]

*Liability in dust-related accidents.  Earlier this month, I did an interview with DTN Progressive Farmer about legal issues related to vehicle accidents caused by blowing dust.  The questions arose after a crash involving 70 vehicles in Illinois.  Generally speaking, it can be difficult, but not impossible, for a plaintiff to successfully bring a negligence lawsuit for blowing dust in these type of circumstances.  [Read Progressive Farmer article here and blog post outlining Texas law here.]

Upcoming Presentations

Next week, I’ll be speaking on carbon contracts as part of the National Agricultural Law Center’s Mid-South Environmental Law Conference Online Early Bird Program.  Click here for more information.

as part of the You can find a list of all my upcoming presentations here.