It’s been a busy week on the ag law front in Texas. Here are some of the stories in the news this week.
*Texas water battle featured in Wall Street Journal. A water fight in Pecos County was featured in a Wall Street Journal article this week. The article does a good job illustrating the tensions between landowners, agricultural producers, oil and gas companies, and Texas law. [Read article here.]
*New law allows killing feral hogs without hunting license. As of September 1, 2019, no hunting license is required to shoot feral hogs on private lands in Texas with permission of the landowner. The law allows a landowner, landowner’s agent, or lessee to shoot feral hogs without a hunting license. [Read article here.]
![](https://agrilife.org/texasaglaw/files/2019/07/26645092655_4f8d628ca1_z.jpg)
TAMU AgriLife photo by Steve Byrns
*Hays County joins second lawsuit over Kinder Morgan pipeline; supports appeal of prior dismissal. Litigation continues over the Permian Basin pipeline, which will run from the Permian, through the Hill Country (including Hays County) to the Houston Ship Channel. The Hays County Commissioners voted this week to join a lawsuit led by the Travis Audubon Society and several other plaintiffs against the US Army Corps of Engineers, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and Kinder Morgan. This new lawsuit will focus on alleged violations of the Endangered Species Act and seek a full environmental impact study under the National Environmental Policy Act. With regard to the prior lawsuit that was filed against the Texas Railroad Commission and recently dismissed (prior blog post here), an appeal looks likely based on the Hays County vote and statements made by plaintiff Andrew Sansom. [Read article here.]
*USDA announces federal hemp regulations will be completed in August. The federal rules for domestic hemp production will be done by August according to the United States Department of Agriculture. This is ahead of schedule as previously rules were expected in early 2020. [Read article here.]
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