Category Archives: Lesser Prairie Chicken

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 →

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 →

Court Vacates Lesser Prairie Chicken Listing Under Endangered Species Act

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In September, the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas has found that the US Fish and Wildlife Service (“USFWS”) acted improperly in finding the lesser prairie chicken met the requirements to be listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.  The court, therefore, vacated the bird’s listing under the Act.  [Read full opinion here.] Endangered Species Act Background The Endangered Species Act (“ESA”) seeks to offer legal protection to species facing extinction by prohibiting a “take” of animals subject to the Act’s protection.  “Take” is… Read More →

Agriculutral Law: What To Watch in 2015

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As everyone is recovering from the New Year celebrations and getting back to the grindstone, I thought it would be fun to highlight a few of the major ag law issues to watch in 2015. Water Disputes Unfortunately, this issue will likely top the list every year for the near future.  Across the country we are seeing more and more water-related disputes.  In addition to the issues outlined in my 2014 Year in Review post, there are two additional issues I think will be in the forefront this year. Water… Read More →

October 3, 2014 Weekly Round Up

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I spent a good part of this week at county Farm Bureau meetings visiting with Texas agricultural producers.  Last Saturday, I was in Longview, TX for the Gregg County Farm Bureau meeting where I spoke about current Hot Topics in Agricultural Law.  Many thanks to Glenn Richardson for the invitation.  On Wednesday evening I made the drive to Huntsville for the Walker County Farm Bureau meeting where we discussed water rights in Texas.  I appreciate Carl thinking of me and including me on the program.  Welcome to those… Read More →

July 3, 2014 Weekly Round Up

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Last week I was in Denton, Texas speaking at the Denton County Agricultural Law Program.  County Extension Agent Brandon Boughen put together a great program for participants that included Wayne Hayenga on estate planning and myself discussing water law and agricultural leases.  Thanks to Brandon for all of his hard work! It has been a very busy week for news related to agricultural law.  Major decisions were issued by the New York Court of Appeals regarding local agencies’ rights to prohibit oil and gas production (read blog here) and by… Read More →

Breaking News: Lawsuit Challenges Lesser Prairie Chicken Listing

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As many expected, a lawsuit has been filed challenging the Fish and Wildlife Service’s recent listing of the lesser prairie chicken as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”).  (Read more about the listing here.) The Permian Basin Petroleum Association, along with four New Mexico counties (Chaves, Roosevelt, Eddy, and Lea), filed suit this week against the Department of the Interior, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and certain of their employees claiming that the decision to list the lesser prairie chicken as threatened under the ESA violated the Administrative… Read More →