Posted July 14, 2015
Pursuant
to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and in accordance with the
negotiated settlement of a lawsuit, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has
published a notice in the Federal Register on April 30, 2013, announcing and
inviting comments on their intention to develop a draft programmatic
environmental assessment (PEA) of the effects of the cultivation and use of
genetically modified crops (GMCs) on certain refuges in the Southeast Region to
meet wildlife management objectives.
As part of
the settlement agreement, they have also agreed to discontinue cultivating and
using the GMCs in the Southeast Region after the 2012 crop year and to refrain
from such activities until 90 days after completion of an appropriate NEPA
analysis of such activities.
On July
17, 2014, the Chief of the Service's National Wildlife Refuge System issued a
memorandum announcing that the use of GMCs to meet wildlife management
objectives within the National Wildlife Refuge System would be phased
out and discontinued by January 2016. Accordingly, they have concluded that their
NEPA process is no longer necessary and notifying the public that they are
discontinuing preparation of the PEA.
For more
information, the Federal Register is available here.
For more information on environmental law, please visit the
National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
