Antitrust: Federal Court Dismisses Monopsony Claims Against Tyson Fresh Meats
On August 28, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington issued an order granting Tyson Fresh Meats Inc.’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a former cattle feeder, Cody Allen Easterday. Easterday v. Tyson Fresh Meats Inc., No. 4:23-cv-05019.…

Landowner Royalties: Appeals Court Upholds 2016 Regulations on Oil and Gas Royalty Calculations for Federal and Tribal Lands
On August 25, 2023, the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals filed its decision in a case brought by the American Petroleum Institute (API) against the Federal Government with respect to a set of 2016 amendments affecting…

WOTUS: EPA and Army Issue ‘Waters of the United States’ Pre-Publication Final Rule
On August 29, 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), with the U.S. Department of the Army, announced that the agencies had released a pre-publication final rule and regulatory text changes to amend the definition of “Waters of the United States…

Crude Oil by Rail: The D.C. Appeals Court Halts Uinta Basin Railway Project Citing Defects in the Environmental Impact Statement Prepared by the Surface Transportation Board
On August 18, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (the “Court”) issued an order vacating a final exemption order granted by the Surface Transportation…

International Trade: Unites States Requests USMCA Dispute Panel Over Mexican GMO Corn Ban
On August 17, 2023, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced that USTR has requested a three-member dispute settlement panel under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) regarding Mexico’s actions to phase out biotech corn in food products and animal feed.…

LNG Exports: Environmental Groups Petition Federal Appeals Court Over DOE Order Approving the Alaska LNG Project
On August 11, 2023, the Sierra Club and the Center for Biological Diversity filed a petition in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit seeking to reverse the Biden administration’s approval of Alaska LNG Project.…

Local Food: PA Department of Agriculture Seeks Comments on Plans for USDA Funding from Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program
On August 15, 2023, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA) released a public request for comment on the agency’s proposed priorities for its cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure…