07/14/08 CRP case in federal court

A federal judge could decide later this week the fate of CRP critical feed use provisions. USDA spokesman Keith Williams says Judge John Coughenour granted a temporary restraining order which halted critical feed use enrollment and for those who were already approved the haying and grazing is stopped. WILLIAMS "National Wildlife Federation and the USDA lawyers come in and explain to him what the issues are and whether or not some procedure was followed." The hearing will be held Thursday at US District Court in Seattle. Williams says the Farm Service Agency did an environmental analysis before allowing the modifications to CRP. WILLIAMS "We chose the end of the primary nesting season for states and a few states that was July first. Many states in the middle of the country it's July 15th. So again that's where we are right now, in the middle of the month as nesting season is ending which was our primary concern to make sure that we had taken into account all environmental concerns on CRP land for the nesting birds." And the reason they're in court is that the National Wildlife Federation is questioning the environmental procedures that were used to make the critical feed use decisions in late May. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott