Photo of Robert Uram

Robert J. Uram retired as partner and became Of Counsel in 2017 in the Real Estate, Energy, Land Use & Environmental Practice Group and the Food and Beverage Team in the firm's San Francisco office.

The decades-long battle over organic certification of hydroponically grown foods is poised for resolution, with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals set to decide an appeal by the Center for Food Safety (CFS) in a case that seeks to block certification of foods not grown in soil.  On May 19, 2021, CFS filed an appeal asking the Ninth Circuit to reverse a district court decision upholding the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s determination that hydroponically grown foods are eligible for certification under the National Organic Program (NOP).  The outcome of the appeal could have significant implications both for hydroponically grown fruits and vegetables and for other soil-less crops, including mushrooms and sprouts.
Continue Reading Organics Advocates Dig In With Ninth Circuit Appeal Challenging Certification for Hydroponics

The Sixth Circuit today stayed the effect of the Environmental Protection Agency’s new “Clean Water Rule” nationwide, while the Court of Appeals considers whether it has original jurisdiction to hear challenges to the regulation or whether those challenges should proceed first in the federal district courts. Among other reasons, the court said staying the Rule would remove uncertainty and confusion by restoring a uniform definition of “waters of the United States” nationwide. Before today, the prior regulatory definition of waters of the United States was in effect in 13 states where the federal district court for North Dakota had enjoined the new Clean Water Rule; the new Rule’s definition applied in the rest of the country.
Continue Reading BREAKING: EPA Water Rule Blocked Nationwide By Sixth Circ.

Since the EPA and the Army Corps published the final Clean Water Act rule defining “waters of the United States” on June 29, 2015, 72 plaintiffs have filed ten separate complaints in eight federal district courts challenging the final rule. Additional district court actions raising facial challenges to the rule are expected to be filed in the near future. Plaintiffs in some of these cases have already filed motions for preliminary injunctions seeking to bar application of the rule.
Continue Reading EPA and the Army Corps Seeking to Consolidate Challenges to Recently Issued “Waters of the United States” Rule