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Agriculture & Energy Committee
Update for the Agriculture & Energy Committee & the Environment CommitteeAugust 7, 2008
USDA PUBLISHES INTERIM FINAL RULE ON COUNTRY OF ORIGIN LABELING. On July 29, the USDA issued an Interim Final Rule for the Country Of Origins Label (COOL) program. The rule becomes effective on September 30, 2008. The requirements in the rule will not apply to covered commodities produced or packaged before September 30. The rules covers: meats, specifically muscle cuts and ground beef (including veal), lamb, chicken, goat and pork; perishable agricultural commodities (fresh fruits and vegetables); macadamia nuts; pecans; ginseng; and peanuts. A bit of background regarding the history of the COOL program may be helpful. On May 13, 2002, the 2002 Farm Bill became law. It required country of origin labeling (COOL) for beef, lamb, pork, fish, perishable agricultural commodities, and peanuts. Two subsequent pieces of federal legislation (P.L. 108-199 and 109-97) delayed implementation of mandatory COOL for all covered commodities except wild and farm-raised fish and shellfish. The recently enacted 2008 Farm Bill required implementation of COOL, and expanded the list of covered commodities to include chicken, goat meat, ginseng, pecans and macadamia nuts. USDA has also revised the definition of a processed food item so that items derived from a covered commodity that has undergone a physical or chemical change (for example, cooking, curing, smoking) or that has been combined with other covered commodities or substantive food components (for example, chocolate, breading, tomato sauce), are excluded from COOL labeling. Food service establishments such as restaurants, lunchrooms, cafeterias, food stands, bars, lounges, and similar enterprises are exempt COOL. The rule outlines the requirements for labeling covered commodities. It reduces recordkeeping retention requirements for suppliers and centrally located retail records to one year and removes the requirement to maintain records at the retail store. The law provides for penalties for both suppliers and retailers found in violation of the law of up to $1,000 per violation. As described in the legislation, program implementation is the responsibility of USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service. For more information, and to link to a copy of the Rule, go to http://www.ams.usda.gov/, where you can access the COOL page (under “Spotlights”). CONGRESS ADJOURNS FOR AUGUST RECESS…WHAT IS LEFT. Congress wrapped up its summer session on August 1, leaving many issues unresolved until it returns in September. Members were unable to come to an agreement on legislation to address high energy prices, including at the pump, energy speculation, on- and off-shore drilling, and a package of tax extenders for renewable energy. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nevada) remarked that these issues will mostly likely return to the Senate floor in September, but he did not specify what legislation would be discussed. Additionally, any energy legislation will have to fight for floor time. The priority when Congress returns will be the Defense, Homeland Security, and Military Construction FY 2009 Appropriations bills (the remaining nine spending bills are not expected to be considered, but rather rolled into a continuing resolution until a new President is in office.) There is speculation that Senate Republicans will attempt to add offshore drilling amendments to the appropriations bills, the continuing resolution, or possibly the $24 billion domestic supplemental bill that Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd (West Virginia) outlined last week, which would include funding for transportation, water infrastructure and energy programs. On August 1, the Gang of 10, a bipartisan coalition of senators headed by Senators Kent Conrad (North Dakota) and Saxby Chambliss (Georgia) released a compromise proposal on energy that they hope will be considered in September and accepted by the Senate. They have also requested a bipartisan energy summit once Congress returns from recess. Majority Leader Reid indicated that the Senate will attempt to adjourn for the year by early October. In the House, Speaker Nance Pelosi (California) continues to call on President Bush to release crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which the President has thus far refused to do. The Speaker also has said she is against raising the moratoriums on off-shore drilling because the effort will not have any effect for at least a decade. House Minority Leader John Boehner (Ohio) has called upon the House not to renew the offshore drilling ban that will expire on September 30, with Republican bill H.R. 6566, the American Energy Act. On July 30, House Democrats were unable to meet the two-thirds requirement for passage of H.R. 6604, which would have curbed energy market speculation. The bill was considered under an expedited suspension of the rules, which does not allow for amendments and limits debate; it failed by a vote of 276-151. Republicans then demanded an up-or-down vote on the American Energy Act, but the House voted to adjourn before such a vote took place. Members of the Republican party have remained on the House floor since adjournment, staging a protest over the decision not to vote on H.R. 6566, and have even written to President Bush calling on him to convene a special session of Congress to consider the energy legislation. On July 31, a bipartisan group of legislators in the House, much like the Senate’s Gang of 10, introduced the National Conservation, Environment, and Energy Independence Act, which would repeal the moratorium on offshore drilling while requiring 10 percent of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to be released. Representatives John Peterson (Pennsylvania) and Neil Abercrombie (Hawaii) organized the group, which consists of over a dozen lawmakers from both parties who put together the legislation without consultation from either party’s leadership. Their hope is to gain support during the recess and have the House vote on the bill in September. SENATE EPW COMMITTEE PASSES BILL TO TRACK HAZARDOUS WASTE. On July 31, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee passed by voice vote the Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest Establishment Act, S. 3109. The bill, introduced by Senator John Thune (South Dakota) and co-sponsored by Senators Benjamin Cardin (Maryland) and Frank Lautenberg (New Jersey), would authorize an electronic tracking system of hazardous waste from its creation to its end, and would authorize the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to collect fees in order to fund the system. The EPA would be able to select a contractor to develop the system that states and private industry would use to track waste, and has already begun the rulemaking process, publishing a notice of data availability in the Federal Registrar in February seeking comments and costs of the program. The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) requires the tracking of hazardous waste from cradle to grave, and many states currently require shippers to file paper manifests upon transporting hazardous waste. It is unclear as to whether the bill will be taken up on the Senate floor after the August recess, and there is no such bill in the House. STATES THREATEN TO SUE EPA OVER GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS. On July 31, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) received intent-to-sue notices from a coalition of state attorneys general, state and local agencies, and environmental groups over what they claim is the EPA’s failure to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural and construction equipment, aircraft, and oceangoing vessels. In essence, this suit would continue the argument that states have held since the EPA decision to deny the California vehicle emissions waiver in December; the EPA is delaying its decision on whether greenhouse gas emissions are an endangerment to public health and welfare, and, in turn, whether the EPA should be regulating greenhouse gas emissions. States that have joined the coalition include California, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Oregon, as well as the California Air Resources Board, the South Coast Air Quality Management district, New York City, and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
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