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November 5, 2010
 

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Republicans Gain Majority in House

For the first time in six decades, the minority party gained more than 60 seats in the House of Representatives. Republicans will hold a commanding majority of at least 20 seats in that Chamber — surpassing even the “Republican Revolution” of the ’94 elections by nearly 15%.

As the returns were posted on election night, few Democratic incumbents found comfort or safety. Among the losses, Democrats can count nearly half of the moderate “Blue Dog” Caucus, half of the House Agriculture Committee, along with a number of long-serving chairmen of key committees.

In the House, Republicans became the Majority party with 239 Members and 186 Democratic Members, with 10 seats still undecided.

There are 33 new Cotton Belt Representatives:

AL-2 Martha Roby (R), AL-5 Mo Brooks (R), AL-7 Terri Sewell (D),
AR-1 Rick Crawford (R), AR-2 Tim Griffin (R), AR-3 Steve Womack (R),
AZ-1 Paul Gosar (R), AZ-3 Ben Quayle (R), AZ-5 David Schweikert (R),
CA-19 Jeff Denham (R),
FL-2 Steve Southerland (R), FL-5 Richard Nugent (R),
GA-7 Rob Woodall (R), GA-8 Austin Scott (R),
KS-1 Tim Huelskamp (R), KS-4 Mike Pompeo (R),
LA-2 Cedric Richmond (D), LA-3 Jeff Landry (R),
MS-1 Alan Nunnelee (R), MS-4 Steven Palazzo (R),
NC-2 Renee Ellmers (R),
OK-5 James Lankford (R),
SC-1 Tim Scott (R), SC-3 Jeff Duncan (R), SC-4 Trey Gowdy (R), SC-5 Mick Mulvaney (R),
TN-3 Chuck Fleishmann (R), TN-6 Diane Black (R), TN-8 Stephen Fincher (R),
TX-17 Bill Flores (R), TX-23 Francisco “Quico” Canseco (R), and
VA-2 Scott Rigell (R), VA-5 Robert Hurt (R).

There are five Cotton Belt House races that are still undecided: AZ-8 Giffords (D), CA-11 McNerney (D), CA-20 Costa (D) and TX-27 Ortiz (D).

In the Senate, the Democratic majority was reduced to 53 seats (including two  Independents who caucus with Democrats) to 47 Republicans. New Senate members from the Cotton Belt include: Boozman (R-AR), Rubio (R-FL), Moran (R-KS) and Blunt (R-MO). Sens. Shelby (R-AL), McCain (R-AZ), Boxer (D-CA), Isakson (R-GA), Vitter (R-LA), Burr (R-NC), Coburn (R-OK) and DeMint (R-SC)  were re-elected to a new six-year term.

Once the new Members are sworn-in mid-January, the NCC will begin educating the new Members on NCC priorities ahead of what likely will be an eventful year in both the House and Senate.

 
Farmers, Ranchers Urged to Vote in County Committee Elections

Farm Service Agency (FSA) Administrator Jonathan Coppess announced that the ’10 FSA county committee elections began on Nov. 5, with USDA mailing ballots to eligible voters. The deadline to return the ballots to local FSA offices is Dec. 6, ’10.

"All eligible farmers and ranchers can make a difference by voting in this year's county committee elections," Coppess said. "County committee members will provide input and make important decisions on the local administration of new disaster and conservation programs under the 2008 Farm Bill. I particularly encourage minority and women producers to get involved so that county committees fairly represent the producers of a county or multi-county jurisdiction."

County committee members are an important component of the operations of FSA and provide a link between the agricultural community and USDA. Farmers and ranchers elected to county committees help deliver FSA programs at the local level, applying their knowledge and judgment to make decisions on commodity price support loans and payments; conservation programs; incentive indemnity and disaster payments for some commodities; emergency programs and payment eligibility. FSA committees operate within official regulations designed to carry out federal laws.

To be an eligible voter, farmers and ranchers must participate or cooperate in an FSA program. A person who is not of legal voting age, but supervises and conducts the farming operations of an entire farm also may be eligible to vote. Agricultural producers in each county submitted candidate nominations during the nomination period, which ended on Aug. 2.

Eligible voters who do not receive ballots in the coming week can obtain ballots from their local USDA Service Center. Dec. 6, ’10, is the last day for voters to submit ballots in person to local USDA Service Centers. Ballots returned by mail also must be postmarked no later than Dec. 6. Newly elected committee members and their alternates will take office Jan. 1, ’11.

Close to 7,900 FSA county committee members serve in the 2,244 FSA offices nationwide. Each committee consists of three to 11 members who serve three-year terms. Approximately one-third of county committee seats are up for election each year. More information on county committees, such as the new ’10 fact sheet and brochures, can be found on the FSA website, www.fsa.usda.gov/elections, or at a local USDA Service Center.

 
Cardin’s Clean Water Act Raises Concerns

In a letter to Senate members, more than 40 agriculture and manufacturing groups urged opposition to Sen. Cardin’s (D-MD) Chesapeake Clean Water and Ecosystem Restoration Act (S. 1816). The letter stated that the bill could result in “some of the most fundamental amendments to the Clean Water Act (CWA) since its modern inception in 1972.”  These groups fear that Sen. Cardin may attempt to attach his bill to a must-pass bill or another measure, such as an omnibus clean water bill, during the upcoming lame-duck Congressional session.

S. 1816 is not a bill with implications just for the Chesapeake Bay watershed but would have far reaching consequences for the entire United States. According to the letter, “S. 1816 would set a major legislative precedent in federal environmental law, taking the authority and control granted to states and local governments under the Clean Water Act and instead vest it in the EPA – a step never before taken in the 38-year history of the law.”

The Cardin bill would re-write the CWA and how responsibilities are shared between the federal government and the states. If a state sends an implementation plan to EPA for approval, the plan would become federalized, giving EPA authority to regulate the flow of water and land use in that state and requiring the state to fund and implement very stringent controls, without regard to cost or feasibility. The bill also would allow for citizen suits and, therefore, be enforceable by environmental activists through the courts.

President Obama’s executive order, the Chesapeake Bay Initiative, directs EPA to implement regulations for the Bay in such a way that can be replicated within other watersheds of national interest such as the Gulf of Mexico.

 
EPA Estimates High Costs for NPDES Pesticide Permit

EPA has estimated that permittees and permitting authorities will spend more than a million hours and more than $50 million a year to collect, report and evaluate information related to National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits for pesticide applications to or over, including near, waters of the United States.

The estimates come in a proposed information collection request (ICR). A notice announcing that EPA plans to submit the ICR to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for approval and will seek public comment is due to be published in the Federal Register.

The ICR includes the following estimates:

  • Total number of potential respondents: 365,000 permittees, 45 permitting authorities (44 states and Virgin Islands )
  • Frequency of response: varies from once every five years to occasionally as needed
  • Total average number of responses for each respondent: 3.6
  • Average number of hours per response: 0.8
  • Total annual burden in hours: 1,033,713 (987,904 hours for permittees and 45,809 hours for permitting authorities)
  • Total annual costs: $51,850,723 ($50,109,969 for permittees and $1,740,754 for permitting authorities - all for labor costs and none for capital investment or operations and maintenance costs)

The estimates are based on EPA's proposed NPDES Pesticide General Permit, which was released in June and contains a number of reporting and recordkeeping requirements. The estimates will be revised based on the final permit, which EPA expects to release in early ’11.

Among other things, EPA is seeking public input that will allow it to evaluate the accuracy of its estimates. According to the notice, the agency, in particular, is "requesting comments from very small businesses (those that employ less than 25) on examples of specific additional efforts that EPA could make to reduce the paperwork burden for very small businesses affected by this collection."

Based on the comments received, EPA says it will revise the ICR as appropriate and submit a final ICR package to the OMB for approval. Stakeholders will be able to submit additional comments to OMB.

Comments on the proposed ICR are due 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.

 
Sales Surge, Shipments Weak

Net export sales for the week ending Oct. 28, ’10 were 581,500 bales (480-lb). This brings total ’10-11 sales to approximately 11.7 million bales. Total sales at the same point in the ’09-10 marketing year were approximately 4.3 million bales. Total new crop (’11-12) sales are 908,000 bales.

Shipments for the week were 96,900 bales, bringing total exports to date to 2.1 million bales, compared with the 2.3 million bales at the comparable point in the ’09-10 marketing year.

 

 
Effective Nov. 5-11, ’10

Adjusted World Price, SLM 11/16

130.66 cents

*

Fine Count Adjustment ('09 Crop)

 0.17 cents


Fine Count Adjustment ('10 Crop)

  0.27 cents


Coarse Count Adjustment

  0.00 cents


Marketing Loan Gain Value

 0.00 cents


Import Quotas Open

13


Special Import Quota (480-lb bales)

894,252


ELS Payment Rate

0.00 cents


*No Adjustment Made Under Step I

 

Five-Day Average



Current 5 Lowest 3135 CFR Far East

147.50 cents


Forward 5 Lowest 3135 CFR Far East

NA


Coarse Count CFR Far East

NA


Current US CFR Far East

147.50 cents


Forward US CFR Far East

NA


 

'10-11 Weighted Marketing-Year Average Farm Price  
 

Year-to-Date (August-September)

75.82 cents

**


**August-July average price used in determination of counter-cyclical payment