Vilsack

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 NATIONAL FAMILY FARM COALITION Case No. 21-cv-05695-JD et al., 8 Plaintiffs, ORDER RE SUMMARY JUDGMENT 9 v. 10 TOM VILSACK et al., 11 Defendants.

12 In 2004, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), housed within the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), announced the intention to revisit regulations governing genetically engineered (GE) organisms. APHIS published a notice of proposed rulemaking in 2008 that kicked off over a decade of activity and concluded in a final rule the agency adopted in May 2020. Plaintiffs, who are non-profit and public-interest groups organized around concerns for farmers, crops, food safety, and the environment, object to the final rule. In plaintiffs’ view, the final rule effectively abandoned federal government regulation of GE organisms, leaving GE crop developers and agribusinesses to their own devices without adequate safety and other oversight. Plaintiffs ask to set aside the final rule under the Administrative Procedure Act on the ground…