Category Archives: Endangered Species Act

August 18, 2017 Weekly Round Up

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Last week I was in College Station to speak at the TAMU Beef Cattle Short Course.  Our session, titled “Ask an Ag Lawyer” featured Jim Bradbury, James Decker, Kyle Weldon, and myself and was quite a hit.  We recorded a podcast summarizing the session and sharing our favorite questions.  If you are interested in listing to that, click here.  A big thanks to Dr. Jason Cleere and his team for putting on such a wonderful event. Here are some of the ag law stories in the news this… Read More →

Tenth Circuit Holds Endangered Species Act Applies to Purely Intrastate Animals

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The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit has reversed a lower court decision and held that the Endangered Species Act is applicable to the Utah prairie dog, despite the animal being found only within the State of Utah.  Obviously, this decision is disappointing for landowners and private property advocates. The Endangered Species Act Passed in 1973, the ESA seeks to conserve endangered and threatened species of plants and animals and the ecosystems on which they depend.  Under the Act, species may be listed as either… Read More →

March 24, 2017 Weekly Round Up

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This has been a whirlwind of a week.  On Monday, I was in Tyler speaking at the Texas State Resource Conservation and Development Councils State Meeting, on Wednesday evening, Jim Bradbury, Kyle Weldon, & I conducted a webinar on fence law for the Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, and on Thursday morning, I guest lectured via Skype for the Contemporary Issues in Ag course at Mississippi State University.  To those of you joining us from each of these programs, welcome! Here are some ag law stories in… Read More →

September 2, 2016 Weekly Round Up

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How is it already September?  Not that I’m complaining about the cool, rainy weather we’ve been seeing this week here in the Panhandle!  Here are a few of the ag law stories in the news this week. * Texas Railroad Commission Failed to Track Oilfield Waste Injections Into Groundwater Zones.  In the first of several clips involving the Texas RRC we will see today, the Texas Tribune published an article claiming that even though the RRC agreed to track injections into zones that could hold drinking water sources… Read More →

August 5, 2016 Weekly Round Up

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I kicked off this week bright and early on Monday morning in College Station where I coordinated the Landowner Issues Session at the TAMU Beef Cattle Short Course.  It is a great event and we had a huge turn out and great audience questions for our session.  In addition to welcoming those of you joining the blog from BCSC, I also want to give a huge thanks to my co-presenters, Luke Ellis and James Decker, who did absolutely outstanding presentations! Yesterday, I presented a webinar for the TAMU… Read More →

May 27, 2016 Weekly Round Up

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It has been a busy couple of weeks around here, sorry for the delay in Weekly Round Up posts!  Recently, Atascoca County Extension Agent, Dale Rankin, had me present online to a couple of different extension meetings in south Texas.  Next up, I traveled to Austin to attend the Stiles Farm Legislative Field Day.  There were a number of legislators and their staffers at this event, where we were able to showcase and educate about agriculture and issues important to the industry.  Kudos to Ryan Collett and his team for… Read More →

March 4, 2016 Weekly Round Up

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It’s been a busy week around here!  On Tuesday I spoke on surviving undercover video investigations at the High Plains Diary Conference in Lubbock.  It was a great turn out and I really enjoyed the chance to visit with folks about this topic.  Thanks to Ellen Jordan for the invitation.  On Thursday, I was in Abilene to speak with the Master Marketer class.  I appreciate Mark Welch inviting me to attend.  To those of you joining from these events, welcome! It has been a busy ag law week,… Read More →

December 18, 2015 Weekly Round Up

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We are exactly one week from Christmas!  I hope you all are more prepared for the holiday than I am at this point!  Here are some ag law stories making news this week. *EPA violated the law by pushing “WOTUS” rule on social media.  The Government Accountability Office found this week that the EPA violated federal law in its social media campaign in favor of its “Waters of the United States” rule.  Government agencies are certainly permitted to use social media in order to provide information, but may not… Read More →

2015 National Agriculture Law Year in Review (Part I)

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As 2015 draws to a close, I thought it would be interesting to take a look back at the top agricultural law developments this year.  First, we will take a couple of posts to look at the national year in review, followed up by a look at the biggest Texas-specific happenings next week. From “Waters of the United States” to drones to GMOs to the United States Supreme Court, 2015 has been a busy year for agricultural law.  Here are the highlights. “Waters of the United States” regulation… Read More →

September & October Round Up (Part 1)

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Hello!  I am back in the saddle again after spending some time on maternity leave.  Thank you all so much for your kind wishes for our little family. During middle of the night feedings, I’ve managed to stay up to date on what’s been happening in the ag law world.  Here are some of the top stories from the last two months. WOTUS rule stayed nationwide, cases will not be consolidated.  As you previously read, the United States Court of Appeal for the Sixth Circuit has issued a… Read More →