The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee has halted a bill that would have allowed gasoline with 15 percent ethanol to be sold year-round. The bill was co-sponsored by Republican Senators Deb Fischer of Nebraska and Chuck Grassley of Iowa, along with Democratic Senator Joe Donnelly of Indiana. Despite the bipartisan support, the legislation was unable to muster enough support …
Court Denies Petition to Ban Pesticide
A U.S. Appeals Court in San Francisco denied a petition from environmental groups to force the Environmental Protection Agency to ban the pesticide chlorpyrifos. Reuters says that decision ends one of three parallel attempts to get the ban put in place. The groups, including Earthjustice and the Natural Resources Defense Council, wanted the ban in place because they allege the …
Fighting for Exemption from Reporting of Manure Emissions
Farm and livestock groups will continue to fight for an exemption from emergency reporting of manure emissions after the EPA lost a federal court decision to environmental groups that sued over the exemption. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit denied a request by pork, poultry and other livestock and farm groups to rehear its rejection of an …
EPA To Hold RFS Hearing Next Month
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will hold a public hearing on its Renewable Fuel Standard volume obligations August first. The hearing, to be held in Washington, D.C., will take public comment on the 2018 renewable volume obligations, along with the 2019 RVO for biomass-based diesel, according to Ethanol Producer magazine. The agency released a prepublication version of the proposed rule …
States Sue EPA to Prevent Insecticide Use
A coalition of states has filed a legal challenge to a Trump administration decision to keep a widely used pesticide on the market in spite of studies that show it can harm the development of children’s brains. The coalition, led by New York, filed a motion to intervene in the legal battle over continued spraying of chlorpyrifos. The coalition says …
Ag Groups React to RFS Volumes for 2018
Some advanced biofuels were cut when the Environmental Protection Agency released its proposed renewable fuels volumes for 2018. The American Soybean Association wasn’t pleased with the lack of growth proposed by the EPA in biomass-based diesel volumes as well as a reduction in advanced biofuels. A.S.A. President and Illinois farmer Ron Moore called it disappointing and a missed opportunity for …
RFS Pulls Back on Some Biofuels
The Environmental Protection Agency released its proposals on how much biofuels will go into the national fuel supply next year and it was a mixed bag. Politico’s Morning Agriculture Report says there were some pleasant surprises and some disappointments. Ethanol producers wanted the continuation of an Obama-era requirement of 15 billion gallons of ethanol in the nation’s fuel supply and …
Agri View: Cleaner Living
Everett Griner talks about living in a cleaner world, thanks to the E.P.A. in today’s Agri View. Let’s be honest. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) gets a lot of criticism. Some of it may be justified, but not all of it. The way farmers and homeowners once used poisons and pesticides would make today’s world totally …
EPA Sends WOTUS Repeal to Federal Register
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt told lawmakers Tuesday that the EPA has sent its repeal of the Waters of the U.S. rule to the federal register, beginning the process of ending the regulation. During a Senate budget hearing Tuesday, Pruitt told lawmakers the measure was being sent to the federal register the same day. The formal withdrawal of the …
Conaway Praises EPA Repeal of WOTUS, Calls for Continued Work to Protect Farmers and Ranchers
House Agriculture Committee Chairman K. Michael Conaway (TX-11) praised the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) announcement it is repealing the Obama administration’s waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule and called on other agencies to revise and re-evaluate their enforcement of this onerous provision. Following the EPA’s announcement, Chairman Conaway made the below remarks: “WOTUS has never been about clean water, it …