BILLINGS, Mont. (July 26, 2005) — The judge that blocked the U.S. government from lifting the two-year ban on live Canadian cattle back in March seriously erred, wrote the Appeals Court panel that eventually overturned the decision and once again opened the border to Canadian exports.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has released its written decision for overturning U.S. District Judge Richard Cebull’s injunction — which extended the ban on Canadian cows originally put in place when a single cattle was found to have mad cow disease in May 2003.

Cebull sided with the protectionist group R-CALF, which claimed the border should not be reopened because of the risk of mad cow disease to beef consumers.

But in a 54-page report released yesterday, the Appeals panel concluded that Cebull overstated the potential harm of allowing limited shipments of Canadian cattle into the U.S.

“The record does not support the district court’s alarmist findings that the ‘irreparable economic harm’ the district court foresaw from the stigma of Canadian beef will actually befall the American beef industry,” the panel wrote.

“The order is a step-by-step dismissal of all of the scare-mongering that R-CALF put into this court case from the very beginning,” Jeremy Russell, a spokesman for the National Meat Association, told Canadian Press.

Cebull himself was awaiting the report before making a decision to reschedule another case brought on by R-CALF. The group was seeking a permanent ban on Canadian beef, but Cebull cancelled the case until he had a chance to read the Appeals report on his original decision. There’s no word yet if he’ll hear R-CALF’s argument.

As for the anti-trade cattlemen’s group, R-CALF insists this isn’t the last word in the matter.

“We will consider our legal options over the coming days. However, the 9th Circuit’s opinion clearly documents the great divide between the government and certain segments of the industry – those who are willing to tolerate a risk of BSE today – and other industry groups, like R-CALF, and consumers – who want to seize this opportunity to effectively prevent the spread of BSE and protect the U.S. cattle industry and consumers,” said R-CALF USA President and Co-Founder Leo McDonnell in a statement posted on the group’s website.

R-CALF has stated in the past, it’s considering taking the case to the Supreme Court.

— with files from Canadian Press