Bill Would Extend Dodd-Frank Title Deadline

WTO Chairs Circulate Documents

Cotton Planting Slightly Behind Pace

State Agencies Support NPDES Bill

Greenhouse Gas Emissions Down

Sales Weak, Shipments Continue Strong

Reps. Lucas(R-OK), Bachus (R-AL), Conaway(R-TX) and Garrett(R-NJ) introduced H.R. 1573, which would extend the deadline by 18 months for implementing Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

A House Agriculture Committee news release stated that the bill gives the regulatory agencies more time to meet the objectives of the derivatives title, to consider the costs and benefits, and to understand the cumulative impact of the rules that will be applied to the marketplace. The derivatives provisions of Dodd-Frank will affect every economy segment. The bill reflects the concerns of thousands of US businesses that that use derivatives to manage risks. For example, farmers use derivatives to lock in the prices of their crops for the coming season. Manufacturers hedge against fluctuating prices in the raw materials that go into production. Hospitals hedge against rising interest rates on financing medical equipment and technology.

The release also stated that to provide clarity to market participants, the bill maintains the current timeframe for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to issue final rules regarding regulatory designations that will define the market, and maintains the current timeframe for rules that require record retention and regulatory reporting. It also requires additional public forums to take input from stakeholders before the rules can be made final.

The following information also is included in a House Agriculture Committee summary of the statutory extension:

• Extends the statutory deadline by 18 months, including 1) providing additional time to write and vet the rules, conduct cost-benefit analysis, consider the interdependence and cumulative impact of the rules and determine the appropriate sequencing of effective dates; and 2) realigning the United States with the G20 agreement to move to reporting and central clearing by Dec. ’12.
• Maintains the current timeframe for the SEC and CFTC to issue final rules defining swap, swap dealer, security-based swap dealer, major swap participant, major security-based swap participant and eligible contract participant.
• Maintains the current timeframe for the rules requiring record retention and regulatory reporting for swaps, and provides for interim authority to designate swap data repositories for the purposes of receiving the data, including 1) providing regulators with swaps data to monitor for systemic risk; and 2) providing regulatory staff with access to swaps data to further instruct the rulemaking process.
• Requires the commissions to hold public hearings to take testimony and comment on proposed rules before they are made final, and factor those comments into cost-benefit analysis and the timing of effective dates.
• Provides the SEC and CFTC authority to exempt certain persons from registration and/or other regulatory requirements if they are subject to comparable supervision by another regulatory authority, if there are information sharing arrangements in effect between the commissions and that regulatory authority, and if it is in the public interest.

As requested by World Trade Organization Director-General Pascal Lamy, the negotiating chairmen within the ongoing Doha negotiations have circulated documents summarizing the product of their work within the 10-year old trade talks.

In a memo to member countries, Lamy noted that the documents will provide an opportunity to consider the entire Doha package, including all market access areas and the regulatory agenda. While Lamy noted that significant progress has been made in some areas, he also conceded that “we are confronted with a clear political gap which, as things stand, under the NAMA framework currently on the table, and from what I have heard in my consultations, is not bridgeable today.”

As of April 17, USDA reports that cotton plantings stand at 9% complete -- compared to a five-year average of 12%.

While still early in the season, good progress was reported in California and Louisiana since the April 10 report. In the past week, California planted 20% of their crop, with total progress moving from 15% to 35% complete. However, California lags their five-year average of 49% for this date. Louisiana now stands at 28% complete, which is up from just 6% in the April 10 report. Louisiana also is well ahead of the five-year average of 11%.

Organizations representing state agencies that regulate pesticides and water quality sent a letter in support of legislation to exempt pesticide uses from Clean Water Act permits. The letter was addressed to Sens. Stabenow and Roberts, chair and ranking member of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee, and to Sens. Boxer and Inhofe, chair and ranking member of the Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee.

The letter’s signatories were the Assoc. of American Pest Control Officials, the Assoc. of State and Interstate Water Pollution Control Administrators, the National Assoc. of State Departments of Agriculture, and the National Assoc. of State Foresters. These organizations represent state agencies with significant environmental and public health responsibilities.

In the letter, the organizations urged the Senate to support the bill that was passed in the House (H.R. 872) in order “to avoid duplicative environmental permitting requirements for applications of pesticides for public health and agricultural purposes.” These groups stated that the new general permit for pesticide will result in a 60% increase in the size of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program over its current size.

State water quality agencies not only develop NPDES permits, but also ensure compliance through inspections, monitoring, data collection, reporting, compliance assistance, outreach and training.  Because their budgets already are under significant strain, states will be forced to divert funds from other important water quality responsibilities in order to pay for additional employees and other expenses associated with this new unfunded mandate.

Additionally, the organizations argued that the NPDES permits are unnecessary and duplicative because the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act and state laws already account for pesticide impacts on aquatic ecosystems.

EPA released the 16^th annual US greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory. The final report shows overall emissions during ’09 decreased by 6.1% from the previous year. This downward trend was attributed to a decrease in fuel and electricity consumption across all US economic sectors.  The ’09 emissions represent the lowest total US annual GHG emissions since ’95.

This inventory, prepared in collaboration with federal agencies, is the latest submitted by the United States to the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The UNFCCC sets an overall global framework for nations to address climate change.  

More information on the greenhouse gas inventory report is at www.epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/usinventoryreport.html.

Net export sales for the week ending April 14 were -38,100 bales (480-lb). This brings total ’10-11 sales to approximately 15.7 million bales. Total sales at the same point in the ’09-10 marketing year were approximately 11.1 million bales. Total new crop (’11-12) sales are roughly 5.5 million bales.

Shipments for the week were 360,000 bales, bringing total exports to date to 10.7 million bales, compared with the 7.6 million bales at the comparable point in the ’09-10 marketing year.