3. AGRICULTURE: Judge halts USDA plan to allow grazing, haying on conservation land (Greenwire, 07/10/2008)

Allison Winter, Greenwire reporter

A federal judge in Seattle has ordered the Agriculture Department to halt plans to open conservation land to haying and grazing.

Judge John Coughenour of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington issued the temporary restraining order Tuesday against USDA in response to a lawsuit filed by the National Wildlife Federation and six state groups.

"Plaintiffs have clearly shown that the threat of immediate and irreparable injury, loss or damage is actual and substantial if the [temporary restraining order] is not imposed to preserve the status quo," Coughenour wrote in his opinion.

The order applies to USDA's decision in May to allow landowners to mow Conservation Reserve Program land or use it for grazing without being penalized. It does not affect USDA's move earlier this week to allow additional grazing in areas declared a disaster zone after recent floods.

The groups will argue the merits of the case in a hearing next Thursday.

The nation's largest land retirement program, CRP is a favorite of wildlife and hunting groups for providing more than 30 million acres of habitat. Landowners usually sign 10- to 15-year CRP contracts, which allow them to receive federal payments in exchange for conserving soil, improving water quality and enhancing wildlife habitat under program rules.

Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer's decision to allow haying and grazing came in an attempt to reduce the impact of high feed costs on the livestock industry. Farmers must still meet certain environmental requirements, including avoiding birds' nesting season.

But environmentalists argue in their lawsuit that the unprecedented wholesale release of lands for haying and grazing should be subject to review under the National Environmental Policy Act. Existing law allows for haying and grazing in drought emergencies, and a separate authority permits managed haying and grazing. The legal complaint argues that those exceptions are narrowly tailored and should affect a relatively small percentage of CRP acres.

Threatened program

The more than 20-year-old CRP program is facing continued threats in a time of increasing demand for row crops and low carry-over stocks. As floods washed out about 4 million acres of farmland last month, calls for opening CRP land intensified.

USDA is considering requests from lawmakers and livestock groups to open CRP land for row crops. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and others are concerned about the potentially devastating effects the rising cost of feed could have on livestock producers.

Fifteen conservation groups -- including the Environmental Defense Fund, the Sierra Club, the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition and the Pollinator Partnership -- sent a letter to Schafer yesterday asking him to reject pressure to release more than 24 million acres from CRP for crops.

"A penalty-free early release of the magnitude you are considering -- millions of acres -- would deliver a devastating blow to the nation's soil, water and wildlife habitat, and significantly increase global warming," the letter says. "Because most CRP lands are marginal for cropping, even if all CRP acres were brought back into commodity production, the impact on aggregate commodity supplies and prices would be modest."

Back to Public index page