In this Issue

Six Animal Rightists Found Guilty In Federal Court


Pension Bill Conferees Finally Named


EPA Says Ethanol, Corn Milling Plants Can Have Same Air Emissions


2005 Set Record for Ethanol Industry


Spare Ag Programs from the Budget Axe is Bipartisan Call


Senate Judiciary Committee Takes on Immigration Proposals


WTO Talks Remain Stagnant; U.S. Groups Say Market Access Key to Pact


U.S., Colombia Agree on Free Trade Deal


Teamsters Join Suit Against Hours of Service Regulations

Sweden Confirms First Case of BSE


Arizona Legislators to Consider Ag Protection Legislation


New Bills

Six Animal Rightists Found Guilty In Federal Court

Six animal rightists on trial in New Jersey on federal charges they orchestrated and waged a national campaign of threats, vandalism and harassment against individuals affiliated with a company that tests pharmaceuticals on animals were convicted by a jury on all counts this week. All of the defendants were affiliated with an animal rights group called Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) USA. The group was charged with conspiracy to engage in interstate stalking and three counts of interstate stalking. Each charge carries up to five years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine. The stalking charges accused the activists of putting three people and their families in fear of death or injury. The activists argued their actions, including threatening telephone and email blitzes, fax blitzes, computer blockades and home vandalism, were protected by the First Amendment and have vowed to appeal the verdict.

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Pension Bill Conferees Finally Named

Following a three-month impasse, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) and Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) named nine Republicans and seven Democrats to House-Senate negotiations on pension legislation. The announcement came Friday morning following a three-month impasse over the number and ratio of members to name to the panel. Frist originally planned to name seven Republican and five Democratic conferees. Reid had insisted on an 8-6 ratio. Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS) is thought to have broken the stalemate.

Senate Finance Committee Chair Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) and ranking member Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), and Budget Chair Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) and ranking member Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND), will serve on the pension conference committee, along with Lott and Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-UT); Olympia Snowe (R-ME); Rick Santorum (R-PA); Michael Enzi, (R-WY); Mike DeWine (R-OH); Johnny Isakson (R-GA); John (Jay) Rockefeller (D-WV); Jeff Bingaman (D-NM); Edward Kennedy (D-MA); Tom Harkin (D-IA), and Barbara Mikulski (D-MD).

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EPA Says Ethanol, Corn Milling Plants Can Have Same Air Emissions

In what’s touted by the Administration as a way to accelerate alternative fuel production, EPA this week proposed allowing ethanol plants to apply for permits allowing them to produce emissions under rules applying to corn milling facilities that produce human foods. Sen. John Thune (R-SD) has been pushing the proposal for more than a year, according to reports.

Environmentalists, who generally support the use of alternative fuels, aren’t happy with the new proposal, and point to EPA’s pattern of settling noncompliance cases with ethanol producers. One environmental group said this proposal could “create a new problem by trying to solve an old problem.”

EPA says ethanol and milled corn products for human consumption are produced at the same facilities, but that the processes are treated differently under Clean Air Act permitting programs. The new proposal would provide “equal treatment” for these facilities whether they produce ethanol for fuel or milled corn for human consumption. Corn milling facilities producing ethanol and emitting less than 100 tons a year of pollutants are not subject to permitting programs, whereas facilities milling corn for food don’t get caught in the permitting process until emissions hit 250 tons a year.

Comments are due in 60 days. The proposal can be found at www.epa.gov/nsr/actions.html#feb06.

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2005 Set Record for Ethanol Industry

The U.S. ethanol industry set production records in 2005, refining just under 4 billion gallons and averaging nearly 255,000 gallons a day, according to U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA) data released this week by the Renewable Fuels Assn. (RFA). December, 2005 was a stand-out month when production shot from 5,000 barrels per day to over 280,000 barrels, as demand hit 310,000 barrels per day. Currently 95 U.S. ethanol plants have combined production capacity of more than 4.3 billion gallons per year. RFA says there are 34 new plants and nine expansions currently under construction that will increase capacity by more than 2.1 billion gallons.

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Spare Ag Programs from the Budget Axe is Bipartisan Call

Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) and panel ranking member Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) this week joined their colleagues on the House Agriculture Committee and issued calls to spare mandatory agriculture spending from the budget axe should Congress be faced with a FY2007 budget reconciliation bill. Chambliss said his committee would likely make such a recommendation to the Senate Budget Committee. Chambliss said ag programs should be spared until a new Farm Bill is written. Harkin’s position in joining Chambliss echoed his statements a year ago – cuts were unnecessary then and they’re unnecessary now.

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Senate Judiciary Committee Takes on Immigration Proposals

The Senate Judiciary Committee this week opened a series of hearings and markups on immigration reform, confronting head on a significant rift among Senators of both parties on how to reform and enforce U.S. immigration laws.

The House passed last year a border security bill, but avoided dealing with the 11 million illegal aliens in the U.S. who comprise an important component of the agriculture work force. President Bush is touting a proposal for a temporary worker program, and agriculture interests have clamored for a “guest worker” program. More conservative members of both chambers are pushing for an immigration crack down, including a program to require illegal aliens to leave the country within five years and reapply for legal status.

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), judiciary panel chair, proposed legislation to allow aliens living in the U.S. prior to Jan. 4, 2004, and who are employed, to remain, along with their families, in the U.S. as part of a temporary worker program. Employers would have to attest they tried to hire U.S. workers before bringing in foreign labor. But Specter told reporters this week, “I have seen virtually no agreement on anything,” adding he’s shooting to get a bill out of committee by the end of March.

Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Ted Kennedy (D-MA) co-authored a bill to provide a means by which illegal aliens could remain in the U.S. while working toward legal status, a proposal Specter said will be politically difficult to achieve. Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and John Kyl (R-AZ) introduced legislation requiring illegal aliens to return to their home countries and reapply for legal entry.

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WTO Talks Remain Stagnant; U.S. Groups Say Market Access Key to Pact

With little or no progress to report on agriculture negotiations as part of a World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement, U.S. ag groups this week told U.S. Special Trade Representative Rob Portman that a “locked in” agreement on market access is absolutely necessary in any deal cut. Sixteen major U.S. groups sent Portman a letter saying the market access deal needs to address “each of our farm and livestock products in both developed and developing country markets.” These groups said it would be difficult to support a WTO agreement that calls for substantial cuts in domestic support for U.S. farmers while allowing U.S. competitors to “further stimulate their competitive export sectors.” The groups said they’d also like to see any nation with 5% or more of a particular world market – whether a developed or lesser developed country – be required to comply with tariff reductions just as the major nations. They also said a firm and clear definition of “sensitive product” is necessary to forestall nations from abusing that status.

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U.S., Colombia Agree on Free Trade Deal

The U.S. and Colombia this week announced they had reached agreement on a bilateral free trade pact. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns, in praising the deal, said Colombia is the second largest exporter in South America. He added that since much of Colombia’s $677 million in annual ag exports already enter the U.S. duty free under the Andean Trade Preference Act, the new deal will level the playing field for U.S. producers selling to Colombia by eliminating tariffs and non-tariff trade barriers. Products that will receive immediate duty-free status include beef, cotton, wheat, soybeans, soybean meal, apples, pears, peaches, cherries and processed food products. Improved market access will be given to pork, corn, poultry, fruits and vegetables and dairy products. Sugar is treated separately under the deal with a longer implementation time.

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Teamsters Join Suit Against Hours of Service Regulations

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters this week joined a number of highway safety groups in filing a federal suit against the Department of Transportation (DOT), challenging DOT’s hours of service (HOS) regulations. These same groups five months ago filed an administrative challenge to the DOT rulemaking, and since DOT has not responded, the groups are “stepping up the fight against these regulations that put Teamster drivers at greater risk.” The administrative petition was pulled when the suit was filed. At issue are changes in sleeper berth rules as well as short haul provisions.

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Sweden Confirms First Case of BSE

The Swedish government this week confirmed it has its first case of BSE following scientific testing at the European Union’s central laboratory in Weybridge, England. The animal is a 12 year-old cow that lived its entire life on the same farm in central Sweden. The suspected cause was contaminated feed fed to the animal prior to the European feed ban instituted 10 years ago. The European Commission said it will now reconsider Sweden’s exemption from automatic animal disease testing, a regimen that requires every animal slaughtered for food to be tested. Sweden has been randomly testing animals, hitting about 10,000 tests a year.

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Arizona Legislators to Consider Ag Protection Legislation

As Arizona farmers and ranchers battle a November ballot initiative brought by out-of-state animal rights groups seeking to end the use of stalls in pork and dairy production, the Arizona legislature will consider a bill to restrict the state legislature and citizens from enacting laws that unduly regulate agriculture. The bill would prohibit any new laws or regulations that “limit or restrict the production of agricultural products” except to protect public health and safety, as well as water use. Any new law that applies to ag production would be enforced or adopted by a state agency designated by legislators unless the legislature or citizens amend the state constitution.

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New Bills

A number of new bills have been introduced. Click here to send a request for a copy of the text or more information about the bill.

H.RES.706
Rep. Marion Berry (D-AR) introduced a resolution expressing the sense of the House that Congress should enact legislation to provide direct emergency assistance to American farmers who were adversely affected by natural disasters and unforeseen production costs during the 2005 crop year.

H.R.4859
Rep. Jon Porter (R-NV) offered the “Federal Family Health Information Technology Act of 2006,” a bill to provide for the implementation of a system of electronic health records under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program.

H.R.4860
Reps. Kay Ganger (R-TX) and Steny Hoyer (D-MD) re-introduced the Childhood Obesity Reduction Act. The bill seeks to reduce and prevent childhood obesity by encouraging schools and school districts to develop and implement local, school-based programs designed to reduce and prevent childhood obesity, promote increased physical activity, and improve nutritional choices.

H.R.4868
Legislation proposed by Rep. Bart Gordon (D-TN) would amend the Internal Revenue Code to allow certain agricultural employers a credit against income tax for a portion of wages paid to nonimmigrant H-2A workers.

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All material © 2006 Policy Directions.