Advocacy Groups Sue USDA For OLPP Withdrawal

The Center for Environmental Health, the Center for Food Safety, Cultivate Oregon, and the International Center for Technology Assessment have filed a complaint for declaratory and equitable relief against Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue, alleging that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) withdrawal of the Organic Livestock and Poultry Practices rule (OLPP) violated both the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA) and the Administrative Procedures Act (APA). Ctr. for Envt’l Health v. Perdue, No. 18-1763 (N.D. Cal., filed March 21, 2018).

The complaint alleges that USDA’s first rationale for withdrawal of the OLPP, that it lacked the authority to set standards for livestock production, is “contrary to the plain language of OFPA, which unambiguously requires USDA to promulgate additional standards for the care of livestock based on NOSB (National Organic Standards Board) recommendation.” The rationale was not a permissible interpretation of the OFPA’s requirements, the complaint asserts, and is arbitrary and capricious.

USDA’s second rationale for withdrawal, the plaintiffs state, was consideration for the “supposed regulatory burdens and costs to producers.” That rationale “similarly violated both OFPA and the APA, as it runs contrary to the economic evidence before USDA, and relies on factors Congress never intended USDA to consider, while ignoring the benefits (including non-economic benefits) of strong and consistent organic standards, as intended by OFPA.” The complaint also claims that USDA’s failure to consult NOSB before withdrawing the OLPP or explain its deviation from NOSB recommendations violated both acts.