CURRENT ISSUE ARTICLES

Senate Committee Assignments Announced

USDA Deregulates Roundup Ready Alfalfa

Executive Order Issued on Regulatory Review

EPA Moving Forward With Boiler MACT Rules

Mill Cotton Use Steady

Shipments Hit Marketing Year High

---

---

Senate Committee Assignments Announced

Senate Democratic and Republican leaders announced their respective Committee assignments for the 112^th Congress.

With the number of Republicans increasing from 42 at the end of the last Congress to 47 this year, the Democrats’ advantage on committees is dropping to one or two seats on most panels. In the previous Congress, Democrats had three, four and even six more seats on committees. The closer split could make committee votes on legislation more unpredictable. This allowed Republicans to place new faces on nearly every panel, including – remarkably -- six freshmen on the Appropriations Committee. Conference rules limit GOP senators to six years as ranking member.

New ranking members of committees as a result of term limits, retirements and the subsequent reshuffling include Sen. Roberts (R-KS)on Agriculture; Sen. Sessions (R-AL) on Budget; Sen. Chambliss (R-GA) on Intelligence; and Sen. Hatch (R-UT) on Finance.

The Senate Agriculture Committee will be chaired by Sen. Stabenow (D-MI). On the Republican side, Sen. Roberts (R-KS) will serve as ranking member. New and returning members of the committee are Sens:  Leahy (D-VT), Harkin (D-IA), Conrad (D-ND), Baucus (D-MT), Nelson (D-NE), Brown (D-OH), Casey (D-PA), Klobuchar (D-MN), Bennet (D-CO), Gillibrand (D-NY), Lugar (R-IN), Cochran (R-MS), McConnell (R-KY), Chambliss (R-GA), Johanns (R-NE), Boozman (R-AR), Grassley (R-IA), Thune (R-SD) and Hoeven (R-ND).

The Senate Appropriations Committee will continue to be led by Chairman Inouye (D-HI) and ranking member Cochran (R-MS). New and returning members include Sens:  Leahy (D-VT), Harkin (D-IA), Mikulski (D-MD), Kohl (D-WI), Murray (D-WA), Feinstein (D-CA), Durbin (D-IL), Johnson (D-SD), Landrieu (D-LA), Reed (D-RI), Lautenberg (D-NJ), Nelson (D-NE), Pryor (D-AR), Tester (D-MT), Brown (D-OH), McConnell (R-KY), Shelby (R-AL), Hutchison (R-TX), Alexander (R-TN), Collins (R-ME), Murkowski (R-AK), Graham (R-SC), Kirk (R-IL), Coats (R-IN), Blunt (R-MO), Moran (R-KS), Hoeven (R-ND) and Johnson (R-WI).

The Senate Finance Committee will see two new Members and be led by Chairman Baucus (D-MT) and ranking member Hatch (R-UT). New and returning Members include Sens:  Rockefeller (D-WV), Conrad (D-ND), Bingaman (D-NM), Kerry (D-MA), Wyden (D-OR), Schumer (D-NY), Stabenow (D-MI), Cantwell (D-WA), Nelson (D-FL), Menendez (D-NJ), Carper (D-DE), Cardin (D-MD), Grassley (R-IA), Snowe (R-ME), Kyl (R-AZ), Crapo (R-ID), Roberts (R-KS), Ensign (R-NV), Enzi (R-WY), Cornyn (R-TX), Coburn (R-OK) and Thune (R-SD).

USDA Deregulates Roundup Ready Alfalfa

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has reached a decision to deregulate Roundup Ready alfalfa (RRA). A deregulation decision means that APHIS no longer would have any regulatory control over the planting, distribution or other actions related to RR alfalfa and that farmers can freely move and plant RR alfalfa seed without further oversight from APHIS.

The decision will end a nearly four-year legal challenge to the commercial production of RRA. RRA was deregulated in ’05. Two years later, after 250,000 acres were planted to this variety, the Center for Food Safety filed a lawsuit claiming that APHIS did not adequately complete an environmental assessment as mandated by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). NEPA requires all federal agencies to consider the environmental and economic impacts of any action they plan to implement but does not mandate that their final decision be based on their findings. The court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, who claimed that RRA would cause economic harm to organic alfalfa farmers, and it imposed harsh restrictions on RRA production.

In response to concerns of organic interests, Secretary Vilsack had suggested that RRA be “partially deregulated,” i.e., deregulated with mandated conditions including isolation distances of up to five miles; limitations on harvest periods and equipment usage; seed bag labeling; seed coloration; and the listing of seed production field locations on a national data base. These conditions would prohibit 20% of farmers nationwide and 50% of western farmers from utilizing RRA.

The NCC and other agricultural groups objected to the unprecedented option of partial deregulation on the grounds that it would open the established risk-based assessments to marketing and other considerations and would set the stage for future mandated conditions on biotech crops including cotton. The deregulation of RRA also was the subject of an earlier House Agriculture Committee oversight hearing (see 1-21-11 Cotton’s Week.)

Secretary Vilsack also announced that USDA will be taking a number of steps to address the concerns of the organic community, including:
· The re-establishment of two USDA advisory committees – the Advisory Committee on Biotechnology and 21st Century Agriculture and the National Genetic Resources Advisory Committee. These two committees will be charged with a broad range of issues such as ensuring the availability of high quality seed, risk management and indemnification options;
· Research concerning the genetic integrity, production and preservation of alfalfa seeds within the germplasm preservation system;
· Refinement of current models of gene flow in alfalfa;
· Requesting proposals through the Small Business Innovation Research program to improve handling of forage seeds and detection of transgenes in alfalfa seeds and hay; and,
· Providing voluntary, third-party audits and verification of industry-led stewardship initiatives through USDA’s Agriculture Marketing Service.

APHIS’ deregulation of RRA will become effective upon publication of the Agency’s determination of non-regulated status in the Federal Register. USDA’s Record of Decision on RRA is available to the public at www.aphis.usda.gov.

Executive Order Issued on Regulatory Review

President Obama signed an executive order on Jan. 18, entitled “Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review.”

The order requires federal agencies to review and remove outdated regulations and, where consistent with law, consider the costs and benefits of a regulation and choose the least burdensome path. Much of the new directive echoes a ’93 executive order by President Bill Clinton, reaffirming that agencies must ensure that the benefits of federal rules justify their costs.

The President also issued a memorandum on regulatory flexibility, small business and job creation in which he reasserted the need for all federal agencies to consider ways to reduce regulatory burdens on small business. The memorandum requires that agencies provide justification when such flexibilities are not included in a proposed regulation. The Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy applauded the move and cited research that shows that small businesses with fewer than 20 employees spend 36% more than larger firms to comply with federal regulations.

Industry is publically applauding the President’s move but, privately, there is little expectation that the directive will result in sweeping changes in either policy or the regulatory process. For example, the executive order includes the following language: “Where appropriate and permitted by law, each agency may consider (and discuss qualitatively) values that are difficult or impossible to quantify, including equity, human dignity, fairness, and distributive impacts.” This clause will allow the continued use of non-quantifiable factors to inflate the benefits estimates of regulations. The new executive order also will not apply to independent agencies such as the Commodity Futures Trade Commission and the Federal Trade Commission.

Even so, the executive order can be used to force discussion on the impacts of federal regulations on jobs and the economy.

The House Energy & Commerce Committee held a subcommittee hearing in which Cass Sunstein, head of the White House Office of Management & Budget's Office of Information & Regulatory Affairs, was questioned. Senate Agriculture Committee Members Chambliss (R-GA) and Roberts (R-KS) sent a letter to Sunstein detailing their concerns about specific EPA and USDA actions that create unnecessary burdens on agriculture. The Senators specifically requested that EPA and USDA be directed to review, reassess and "take corrective" action to ensure that "each of these proposals is consistent with the essence and requirements of the January 18th executive order."

The new executive order also has energized environmentalists, who, last year, were splintered over the details of global warming legislation. A coalition of the nation’s 23 leading environmental groups recently sent a letter urging Obama to “stand with the public — not the polluters — and do everything in your power to ensure that the EPA retains the authority and the resources to take the life-saving actions necessary to protect the air we breathe and water we drink.” Environmentalists argue that the House Republicans likely are to be surprised by public support for national air and water pollution laws.

In recent weeks, Obama Administration officials have assured environmentalists that the president will veto Republican proposals to stop EPA from regulating greenhouse gases and to overturn federal environmental laws.

EPA Moving Forward With Boiler MACT Rules

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Upton (R-MI) warned that EPA’s final “Boiler MACT Rules,” expected in February, pose significant economic risk and underscore the dangers of the agency’s flawed regulatory tactics. The original Boiler MACT (Maximum Achievable Control Technology) proposal could result in thousands of lost jobs, according to the EPA’s own analysis, and the agency’s request for an extension acknowledged the rules needed to be re-proposed to be “more defensible.”

Last week, a federal district court denied the EPA’s request for a 15-month extension on the final emissions standards for boilers and incinerators. The rules will affect thousands of manufacturing and industrial facilities, small businesses, educational institutions, hospitals, and local and federal agencies.

“This EPA has a track record of regulating too much too fast while ignoring potentially devastating economic consequences,” Rep. Upton said. “The Boiler MACT rules are a perfect example of what happens when the EPA diverts its resources and attention away from its core responsibilities in order to pursue controversial regulatory schemes – such as its greenhouse gas regime – that lack support in Congress. The EPA acknowledges its failure by requesting reconsideration of the final Boiler MACT rules before they are even released. Congress will be closely monitoring the final rules when they are released next month and considering what steps can be taken to protect jobs and prevent reckless regulation.”

Mill Cotton Use Steady

According to the Commerce Dept., December (five-week month) total cotton consumption in domestic mills was 148.0 million pounds for a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 3.82 million bales (480-lb). Last year’s December annualized rate was 3.48 million bales.

The November (four-week month) estimate of domestic mill use of cotton was lowered by 349,000 pounds to 136.0 million pounds. The revised seasonally adjusted annualized rate of consumption for November is 3.75 million bales. This is higher than last year’s November annualized rate of 3.67 million bales.

Using the latest figures from the Commerce Dept., calendar ’10 mill use is estimated to be 1.74 billion pounds or 3.62 million bales. This is higher than calendar year ’09’s use of 3.29 million bales.

Preliminary January domestic mill use of cotton and revised December figures will be released by Commerce on Feb. 24.

Shipments Hit Marketing Year High

Net export sales for the week ending Jan. 20 were 290,000 bales (480-lb). This brings total ’10-11 sales to about 15.0 million bales. Total sales at the same point in the ’09-10 marketing year were about 7.8 million bales. Total new crop (’11-12) sales are 2.8 million bales.

Shipments for the week were 406,600 bales – a marketing year high, bringing total exports to date to 5.5 million bales compared with the 4.3 million bales at the comparable point in the ’09-10 marketing year.

Return to Top