August 15, 2025 Weekly Round Up

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It has been a big few weeks on the agricultural law front!  We’ve got updates on several cases we’ve been following and news on new lawsuits around the country.

Photo by Karli Kaase

* Federal court vacates listing of lesser prairie-chicken.  The US District Court for the Western District of Texas had vacated the Endangered Species Act listing of the lesser prairie chicken.  I will have a full blog post explaining the ruling in detail on Monday.  [Read article here.]

* Federal court upholds emissions reporting exception for farms.  The United States District Court for the District of Columbia recently upheld a law exempting farms and livestock operations from reporting air emissions in Rural Empowerment Association for Community Help v. US EPA.  [Read Order here.]

* Groundwater battle brewing in East Texas.  One of the biggest news stories in Texas is a groundwater battle in East Texas.  Dallas investor, Kyle Bass, owns ranches in East Texas where he seeks to drill wells and potentially produce groundwater to sell to purchasers in and around the Metroplex.  Bass proposes to drill wells in three counties, two of which have Groundwater Conservation Districts.  The third, Houston County, has no such district regulating groundwater withdrawals.  Lawsuits have been filed challenging the GCD’s handling of the permit application.  The dispute found its way to Austin, where hearings have been held and at least one bill has proposed re-thinking the approach to groundwater law in Texas. [Read articles here and here.]

* Muleshoe Wildlife Refuge will not expand.  Last month, the US Fish and Wildlife Service withdrew the Land Protection Plan, which would have allowed the Muleshoe Wildlife Refuge to expand its size through voluntary land acquisitions within the expanded boundary created by the Plan.  The Refuge is currently 6,440 acres, and the Plan would have increased the area within which it could acquire land to 700,000 acres.  Critics of the Plan, including  Reps. Jodey Arrington and Ronny Jackson called it a “land grab.”  [Read article here.]

* Cotton Companion Podcast breaks down newly proposed dicamba label.  As we mentioned in our last Weekly Round Up, the EPA  has proposed approving new labels for the over-the-top dicamba products to be used in soybeans and cotton.  Cotton Companion walks through the details of the newly proposed labels and what will happen next.  [Listen here.]

* Do you have the courage to make your family uncomfortable?  This was a catchy title to an important article on farm and ranch estate and succession planning by Mike Downey.  [Read article here.]

*  Update on the Cedar the show goat case in California.  There is an update to a case we have followed for a couple of years involving a show goat in California.  To read our initial blog post on this case, click here. In the end, the County defendants settled the case, agreeing to pay the goat owner $300,000.  Recently, a federal judge ruled that the remaining defendants, including the fair, fair managers, and the winning bidder at the auction were found to be immune from suit.  [Read Opinion here and article here.]

Upcoming Programs

The next two weeks will be fast and furious!  Here is a rundown:

To see all of my upcoming programs, click here.

 

 

 

talk+water: #94 – Vanessa Puig-Williams, Jeremy Mazur, and Carlos Rubinstein

 

 

https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eenews/2025/07/25/fight-over-carbon-storage-in-texas-spills-into-public-hearing-00476995

https://www.casemine.com/commentary/us/%E2%80%9Cuse-it-or-lose-it%E2%80%9D:-new-mexico-supreme-court-clarifies-the-abandonment-test-and-formally-adopts-an-anti-speculation-doctrine-for-water-rights/view

https://www.nj.com/news/2025/06/trump-administration-warns-nj-town-to-drop-plan-to-seize-175-year-old-family-farm.html

 

https://natlawreview-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/natlawreview.com/article/supreme-court-has-chance-clarify-labeling-laws?amp

https://www.deseret.com/politics/2025/06/23/trump-secretary-of-agriculture-to-announce-change-to-immigrant-work-visa-for-farmers/?utm_source=Agri-Pulse+Daily+Harvest&utm_campaign=a2f4467dc3-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2025_06_24_10_37&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-a2f4467dc3-48791041

https://www.cjonline.com/story/news/state/2025/06/16/kansas-may-be-cattle-country-but-some-are-opposing-a-mega-feedlot/84168413007/

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/litigation/states-rethink-measure-of-lawyers-as-deadline-for-new-exam-nears

https://news.unm.edu/news/releases-20250618

https://www.sanmarcosrecord.com/article/30020,are-correlative-allocations-the-solution-to-texas-groundwater-management

Administrator Zeldin Announces Major EPA Actions to Combat PFAS Contamination

 

 

Mexico water

https://www.farmprogress.com/farm-business/8-steps-to-taking-over-the-family-farm-business?PK=UM_FMFTOP5&NL=UM_TOP5&utm_rid=CPG02000000698080&utm_campaign=96058&utm_medium=email&elq2=25c460c895b045648bee3f5952bb7f0b&sp_eh=106890a768b20d3416a11199e053523fc02ec5e24c7e7f05b665a994aee074ff

 

https://www.aglaw.us/janzenaglaw/2025/4/25/is-an-ai-drafted-contract-better-than-no-contract?ss_source=sscampaigns&ss_campaign_id=680b8b39b2f41940d457b332&ss_email_id=68121604ac6ec9659ca7612e&ss_campaign_name=Optimism+Meets+Creativity+in+Farming+&ss_campaign_sent_date=2025-04-30T12%3A22%3A38Z

 

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