The Biden administration is taking a new step today in the development of the American Climate Corps, which is aimed at training a new generation of professionals to work in conservation and climate-related sectors.
Deputy Ag Secretary Xochitl Torres Small and White House climate adviser Ali Zaidi will announce a new USDA program that will be part of the Climate Corps. They will be joined by Kim LaFleur, president of the National Association of Conservation Districts and AmeriCorps CEO Michael Smith.
Last fall, the White House announced the creation of the Climate Corps, which plans to recruit 20,000 people to undertake conservation, energy and wildland fire work across the country.
Also this week: Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack is on Capitol Hill Tuesday to field questions from the House Agriculture Committee. His appearance comes as Democrats are pushing back hard against GOP proposals to pay for increasing spending for commodity programs.
Committee Chairman Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., defended his proposals in a recent op-ed for Agri-Pulse. Democrats on the committee say it’s up to the House GOP leadership to find new funding for the bill that would have bipartisan support.
Vilsack also will headline USDA’s annual Ag Outlook Forum later this week.
For more on this week’s D.C. agenda, read our Washington Week Ahead.
Senate EPW leaders propose reauthorization of expiring conservation programs
The two highest-ranking members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee are joining forces to try and reauthorize a slate of conservation programs before they expire in 2025.
Committee chairman Tom Carper, D-Del., and Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., on Friday announced the America’s Conservation Enhancement Reauthorization Act, which would renew a 2020 measure that funds the North American Wetlands Conservation Act and the Chesapeake Bay Initiative and provides funding to compensate livestock producers for predation losses, among other things.
Take note: The bill has approval from Ducks Unlimited, the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, the National Wildlife Federation, American Sportfishing Association, the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies, and Backcountry Hunters and Anglers.
POTUS tackles shrinkflation
President Biden took advantage of Super Bowl Sunday to needle major companies about “shrinkflation,” the practice of reducing the amount of snacks or other product in a bag or box.
“While you were Super Bowl shopping, did you notice smaller-than-usual products where the price stays the same? Folks are calling it Shrinkflation and it means companies are giving you less for every dollar you spend,” Biden said in a post on X. “I’m calling on the big consumer brands to put a stop to it.”
New general permits available for activities that might disturb bald eagles
The Fish and Wildlife Service has announced a new process that it hopes will simplify the process for obtaining permits for activities that may harm bald eagles.
Though it has officially recovered under the Endangered Species Act, the national symbol is still protected under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. The service is making general permits available that are designed for situations with “low risks” to eagles; examples include certain wind energy generation projects and power-line infrastructure, as well as activities that may disturb breeding bald eagles.
“Most land management activities, such as alteration of shorelines, alteration of vegetation, and prescribed burns, are eligible for general permits,” says the final rule being published in the Federal Register today. However, “general permits for disturbance caused by agriculture, mining, and oil and gas operations are not available at this time.”
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The service said it would continue to use specific permits for situations that have high or uncertain risks to eagles.
EPA urged to issue broad existing stocks order for dicamba
Farm groups are urging EPA to allow use of existing stocks of dicamba despite the Feb. 6 court ruling from a federal judge in Arizona that vacated the registrations for the herbicide.
The Agricultural Retailers Association, American Soybean Association and American Farm Bureau Federation are among groups appealing to EPA Administrator Michael Regan to allow the sale and application of the herbicide.
In a letter to Regan, ARA President and CEO Daren Coppock recommended that he “allow product within the channels of trade that [has] been manufactured and ready for sale on the date of the decision to be distributed, sold, and used under an existing stocks directive, including any manufactured product still at a registrant’s facilities.”
The ASA agreed. That group and 26 state affiliates told Regan in a letter to issue a “broad existing stocks order” that would allow use of “all volumes of low-volatility dicamba manufactured under the affected registrations currently in commerce, from the manufacturer to the farm.”
“At this point few farmers have taken possession of herbicide they have ordered for this growing season,” the soy groups said. An existing stocks order should “allow for delivery of herbicide from upstream providers, including manufacturers and retailers.”
All the groups recommended EPA appeal the district court order to the 9th Circuit.
