Agribusiness Update for Friday 10/16/15

A motion to consolidate lawsuits against the EPA's 'Waters of the U.S.' rule was rejected by the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multi-district Litigation. The panel denied a government petition for consolidating the cases against the rule. The decision appears to be a victory for critics of the rule, but it has thrown the situation into chaos. A Vermont Law School professor—Pat Parenteau—said "Conventional wisdom is out the window." Parenteau has backed broader federal authority under the Clean Water Act.

The EPA has cleared the way for dry cured pork products producers and California strawberry growers to continue using methyl bromide as efforts continue to phase out the ozone-depleting chemical. The agency is allowing for 234.78 metric tons for domestic production and import of the chemical, the two remaining exceptions for the use of the chemical as a preservative in meat and a field fumigant. The phase-out of methyl bromide stems from the EPA's commitments under the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, which was signed in 1987.

That's today's Agribusiness Update from the Ag Information Network of the West.