A California federal court has invalidated an amended section of the Organic Foods Production Act that allowed organic producers to use compost materials containing synthetic fertilizers, finding the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) violated the Administrative Procedures Act (APA) by failing to subject the amendment to public notice and comment before it took effect. Ctr. for Envtl. Health v. Vilsack, No. 15-1690 (N.D. Cal., order entered June 20, 2016). Details about the complaint appear in Issue 562 of this Update. In 2011, USDA issued guidance on the agency’s position allowing the use of fertilizer and compost containing unapproved synthetic materials in the production of organic food. The plaintiffs, three environmental groups, argued that the guidance was a legislative rulemaking—thus triggering requirements of public notice and comment under the APA—while USDA asserted that it had merely clarified a preexisting rule, not changed it. The court sided with the environmental groups, finding the…
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Federal agents reportedly raided a major organic fertilizer producer in Bakersfield, California, over concerns that it was using a synthetic nitrogen, which is banned from organic farms. Port Organic Products Ltd. is believed to produce up to half the liquid fertilizer used on the state’s organic farms. The raid follows by about a month press reports that state regulators quietly pulled the product of another fertilizer producer, with about a third of California’s market share, from the organic market in November 2007 for similar problems. Synthetic nitrogen is apparently cheaper than approved nitrogen sources such as ground-up fish and chicken feathers, and it is hard to detect. No charges have been filed against Port Organic, and federal officials were reportedly not commenting on their investigation, but a county environmental health services department evidently imposed fines on the company for improperly storing thousands of gallons of aqua ammonia, a common synthetic nitrogen…
The Air Resources Board (ARB) of California’s Environmental Protection Agency has published a request for research concepts for its 2009-2010 annual research plan. Among the general areas of research that ARB would like to fund are issues related to agriculture and to health and exposure. The deadline for concept submissions is January 20, 2009. Due to anticipated budget shortfalls, the agency has indicated that co-funded proposals are more likely to be approved and funded. ARB is interested in funding research relating to confined animal facility operations emissions, pesticide emission assessments, air emissions in agricultural ecosystems involving “nitrogen fate from fertilizer application,” and “[c]omparative assessment of emissions from various agricultural practices, including conservation management, conservation tillage, and use of equipment to reduce particulate entrainment emissions or VOC emissions.” Under the “health and exposure” rubric, ARB is seeking concept submissions relating to the “[i]mpact of nanoparticles in products and materials on personal…
