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Rapid City Journal –
Sunday – December 1, 2006
R-CALF border lawsuit still alive
By Steve
Miller, Journal Staff Writer
At the same time that the U.S. Department of
Agriculture is proposing to open the U.S. border to all Canadian cattle and
beef, a federal appeals court has kept alive a lawsuit by a ranchers' group to
close the border to all Canadian beef and cattle.
Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United
Stockgrowers of America sued the USDA in January 2005 to stop it from opening
the U.S. border to Canadian cattle younger than 30 months.
The border was closed to Canadian cattle of all ages after mad cow disease was
discovered there in May 2003. Animal scientists believe that mad cow disease,
known scientifically as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, doesn't appear in
cattle younger than 30 months.
U.S. District Judge Richard Cebull of Billings in March 2005 granted a temporary
halt to allow limited cattle and expanded beef trade with Canada until a hearing
on the merits of R-CALF's case could be heard.
But four months later, a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals
overturned the order, saying in part that Cebull had overstated the potential
harm that could come from the USDA plan and that agriculture secretary Mike
Johanns had a firm basis for determining that the resumption of Canadian imports
"would not significantly increase the risk of BSE to the American population."
That decision cleared the way for younger Canadian cattle to begin being shipped
across the border in the summer of 2005. Since then, nearly 1.5 million head of
Canadian cattle have come into the U.S.
In April of this year, Cebull refused to hear R-CALF'S entire lawsuit, saying
the appeals court's ruling tied his hands.
But R-CALF continued to try to get a full hearing of its case, and in
mid-November, the full 9th Circuit Court of Appeals denied a motion by USDA to
dismiss the case, stating that R-CALF has raised enough issues that were
"sufficiently substantial to warrant further argument."
After both sides file briefs, the appeals court could rule early next year.
"The way it stands now, at least we're going to get to present our arguments,
our evidence," Shae Dodson, R-CALF USA communications coordinator, said
Thursday.
After reviewing the briefs, the full 9th Circuit Court of Appeals could deny the
R-CALF lawsuit or return it to Cebull, Dodson said.
"Then, we would actually get to have a full-fledged hearing."
R-CALF officials have maintained that they want only to have a hearing on all of
the merits of their case.
"We are pleased that the 9th Circuit has determined that R-CALF USA's case
warrants further consideration, and we look forward to being able to present the
facts concerning the BSE problem in Canada and how this situation relates to
trade with the United States," R-CALF USA president Chuck Kiker of Beaumont,
Texas, said. "It is time Canada's BSE issues, its higher BSE infection level and
its ineffective feed ban are addressed, and rules developed to protect Canada's
trade partners, like the U.S., from importing this disease," he said.
http://www.rapidcityjournal.com:80/articles/2006/12/01/news/local/news06.txt
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