By Jay Austin & Bruce Myers, Senior Attorneys, Environmental Law Institute
Big business versus the little guy. The Ninth Circuit running amok. The specter of "frankencrops." All of these tropes -- some familiar to Supreme Court-watchers, one more novel -- were potentially in play last month when the Court considered Monsanto v. Geertson Seed Farms, its first case dealing with federal regulation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Yet the oral argument found the justices preoccupied with fine points of jurisdiction, administrative law, and equity, suggesting that their actual ruling may turn out to be a narrow one.
Geertson arose from a Bush Administration decision to deregulate "Roundup Ready" alfalfa, Monsanto's proprietary strain that has been engineered to resist Monsanto pesticides. Mr. Geertson and other conventional farmers sued the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), claiming the agency failed to produce an environmental impact statement (EIS) that fully considers the risk of cross-pollination between GMO crops and conventional crops. If such contamination occurs, the plaintiffs' GMO-free status -- and thus their entire business model -- could be in jeopardy.