A federal judge has denied a request by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to dismiss a lawsuit by eastern Idaho potato growers seeking to end a quarantine after the discovery of a microscopic pest that caused some countries to initially ban Idaho spuds.
The Agriculture Department argued that the Idaho farmers didn’t have standing under federal laws to bring the lawsuit and that the lawsuit wasn’t specific enough. But U.S. District Court Judge Edward J. Lodge in a 22-page ruling earlier this month rejected both of those arguments.
William Myers, an attorney with Holland & Hart representing about a dozen potato growers, said his clients are pleased to move ahead to argue “where we think there are flaws in the agency decision making.”
The Agriculture Department didn’t respond to an inquiry from The Associated Press on March 22.
Lodge in his ruling dismissed Idaho officials from the lawsuit, noting state court was the proper venue concerning potential violations of state law. Myers said they were still analyzing whether to file a lawsuit in state court against Idaho officials.
The Idaho attorney general’s office declined to comment March 22 on the federal court ruling.
The next step in the process, Myers said, is for the Agriculture Department to respond by early April to the initial lawsuit.
The lawsuit filed last year cited the 10th Amendment concerning state’s rights in arguing that the federal government is illegally imposing regulations in Idaho through the Agriculture Department’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services.
The group also said authorities failed to follow federal environmental laws in imposing actions without proper study, such as an Environmental Impact Statement.
The discovery of the pale cyst nematode in Bingham and Bonneville counties in 2006 was the first detection of the pest in the United States, and authorities have been trying to eradicate it ever since. The plan includes quarantine and treatment of infected fields as well as special regulations for some associated fields.
The worms feed at the roots of potato plants and can reduce crop production by 80 percent. Officials say the pest is not harmful to humans.
Federal and state officials say the pale cyst nematode has infested some 10,000 acres in Idaho. Another 7,500 acres are being regulated because they might also be infested.
That’s a tiny fraction of the land growing potatoes in Idaho — about 324,000 acres in 2015, according to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. The agency says Idaho led the nation in 2015 by producing 13 billion pounds of potatoes, about 30 percent of the nation’s potato crop, with an estimated value of $900 million.
But fields infected with the pale cyst nematode are out of the potato growing business.
“Anytime there’s a quarantine on a crop it has an adverse economic impact on the farmer that owns the quarantined field,” Myers said.
Specifically, the lawsuit deals with the process of how the quarantine was put in place in Idaho. If it’s successful in lifting the quarantine, the pale cyst nematode would still be classified by in the U.S. and some 30 countries as a pest requiring quarantine. It’s not clear how other states or countries would react if the lawsuit succeeds. Japan, for example, still refuses to import Idaho potatoes after the initial discovery.
SOURCE: Idaho Business Review