The Natural Resource Report online is running a news release from the Oregon Association of Nurseries (OAN) that reports that the California Association of Nurseries and Garden Centers (CANGC) and the OAN filed a lawsuit Monday in U.S. District Court in Columbia, South Carolina "seeking to overturn a new regulation aimed squarely at blocking California and Oregon nursery growers from shipping their plants to that state."While the US Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has regulations in place to deal with Phytopthora ramorum, or Sudden Oak Death, to protect against the spread of the disease, last year South Carolina passed a bill that prevents California and Oregon growers from shipping to South Carolina unless the growers comply with additional requirements for inspections, documentation, and notice. According to the news release, these state regulations go further than the federal rules. Thus, the two organizations are seeking an injunction to invalidate the regulation.
The organizations believe the South Carolina statute is in violation of the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, as well as the US Plant Protection Act, "which gives the federal government the exclusive power to protect plants sold in interstate commerce." The organizations also believe they have legal precedent on their side since, in 2004, the CANGC "successfully sued the State of Kentucky under similar circumstances."
As Dana Tims reports for the Oregonian online, "potentially millions of dollars are riding on the lawsuit since most of the plant material grown in the two states is exported to markets in the south, east and Midwest. " This is in part why the challenge is being brought--if South Carolina's actions are allowed to stand what is to prevent other states from doing the same?
Indeed, John Aguirre, executive director of the OAN is quoted in the Tims story as stating, "For us, the problem is much bigger than just South Carolina . . . If other state think this will go unchallenged, there's every likelihood that they will start doing just what South Carolina has done . . ."
Since the organizations feel the regulation is clearly in violation of the Constitution, federal law, and the legal precedent is on their side, they are hoping for a quick ruling from the US District Court in their favor.
To read the OAN news release on the Natural Resource Report online, click here.
To read the Oregonian story click here.
Posted: 03/10/10
