In back-to-back hearings before the 9th Circuit, farmers and
environmental groups decried the deregulation of genetically modified
sugar beets and alfalfa.
Earthjustice attorney Peter Achitoff says the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) should not have granted commercial grower Monsanto permits to plant herbicide-resistant sugar beets that were set to expire in five months.
A federal judge concluded that the permits represented a blatant violation of the National Environmental Policy Act.
"My clients were wrongly denied their fundamental right to protect themselves and the public interest in court from conduct the lower court found flagrantly illegal," Achitoff said. "The government and industry transparently colluded to violate the law and circumvent a lower court ruling that plaintiffs obtained after three years of hard-fought litigation: vacating the agency's genetically engineered sugar beets deregulation, making it unlawful to plant the crop without prior NEPA review. They did so in a way specially designed to allow continued production of crop without prior NEPA review while preventing plaintiffs from holding them accountable in court."
U.S. Attorney Matthew Littleton countered that the dispute is moot because the court can no longer award effective relief.
"APHIS has completed an environmental impact statement, the most comprehensive document envisioned by NEPA," Littleton said. "The agency used the results of that analysis when it decided in July of this year that the Roundup Ready sugar beet is not a plant pest that is subject to regulation at all under the Plant Protection Act."
Read more: http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/10/25/51676.htm
Earthjustice attorney Peter Achitoff says the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) should not have granted commercial grower Monsanto permits to plant herbicide-resistant sugar beets that were set to expire in five months.
A federal judge concluded that the permits represented a blatant violation of the National Environmental Policy Act.
"My clients were wrongly denied their fundamental right to protect themselves and the public interest in court from conduct the lower court found flagrantly illegal," Achitoff said. "The government and industry transparently colluded to violate the law and circumvent a lower court ruling that plaintiffs obtained after three years of hard-fought litigation: vacating the agency's genetically engineered sugar beets deregulation, making it unlawful to plant the crop without prior NEPA review. They did so in a way specially designed to allow continued production of crop without prior NEPA review while preventing plaintiffs from holding them accountable in court."
U.S. Attorney Matthew Littleton countered that the dispute is moot because the court can no longer award effective relief.
"APHIS has completed an environmental impact statement, the most comprehensive document envisioned by NEPA," Littleton said. "The agency used the results of that analysis when it decided in July of this year that the Roundup Ready sugar beet is not a plant pest that is subject to regulation at all under the Plant Protection Act."
Read more: http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/10/25/51676.htm
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