EPA is on track to meet court-ordered deadlines to complete strategies to reduce the impacts of herbicides and insecticides on endangered species. That’s the word from a top pesticide official from the agency, who spoke Tuesday at CropLife America’s 2024 regulatory conference.
Some other actions at the Office of Pesticide Programs are being delayed, however. Deputy Assistant Administrator for Pesticide Programs Jake Li said the fiscal 2024 spending deal cut his office’s budget by $6 million, to $133 million. Fees collected through the Pesticide Registration Improvement Act also were down $6 million, further limiting the office’s resources.
Among the impacts: Some delays in pesticide registrations and in IT modernization efforts and fewer crop tours for OPP staff, Li said.
He told Agri-Pulse the herbicide and insecticide strategies are on track to be released on schedule. The draft version of the insecticide plan is due July 30. The final herbicide plan is due Aug. 30.
Read more about the issue in the Agri-Pulse weekly newsletter.
Senators oppose California’s mandated transition to zero-emission locomotives
A bipartisan group of senators is appealing to EPA to block a California ban on diesel-powered locomotives over 23 years old starting in 2030.
The California Air Resources Board approved the rule in April 2023 with the goal of reducing local air pollution and pushing the transition to zero-emission engines. However, it’s had a rocky rollout due to litigation and other barriers. The EPA is considering a waiver request from CARB under the Clean Air Act that would allow the regulation to take full effect.
In a letter to EPA Administrator Michael Regan, senators led by Nebraska Sen. Pete Ricketts urge the agency to consider the “broad impacts” that approving the waiver could have on rail operations in California and North America. Omaha is the headquarters of Union Pacific.
The 12 senators argue the rule could put the supply chain at risk by requiring railroads to install “largely unproven technology” in the locomotives. Additionally, the California rule could have a greater ripple effect on the economy if other states choose to adopt the regulation.
“If the EPA were to approve CARB’s authorization request, the results would be devastating for the rail industry and, subsequently, the economy as a whole,” senators write.
Tai back on Hill to defend trade policy
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai faces the Senate Finance Committee today in a second straight day of questioning about President Biden’s trade policy. On Tuesday, she pushed back against GOP allegations that U.S. farmers were hurting because of the administration’s failure to pursue new tariff-lowering free-trade agreements. Tai suggested such deals could pit one sector against another and that it was important to avoid doing that.
Tai assured lawmakers she was working to reduce several ag trade barriers, including Mexico’s ban on biotech corn.
Take note: More than 30 farm groups have signed a letter to Tai, urging the administration to “recommit to an aggressive trade agenda to meaningfully expand export opportunities for U.S. food and agricultural products.”
The letter goes on, “Export markets are essential for our survival, and comprehensive trade agreements and elimination of tariff and non-tariff barriers help ensure that U.S. agriculture can compete on an even playing field in our export markets.”
By the way: Tai told Texas GOP Rep. Jodey Arrington she would look into complaints that Mexico isn’t fulfilling critical commitments for water in the Rio Grande Valley. The issue recently forced the shutdown of the last sugarcane mill in south Texas. Under a 1944 treaty, Mexico is supposed to deliver 1.75 million acre-feet of water over a five-year period.
For more on Tai’s testimony, read our weekly newsletter.
USDA pressed to restore surveys
American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall is criticizing the decision by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service to discontinue its July cattle inventory survey, a county-level crops and livestock survey, and an objective yield survey for cotton.
In a letter to USDA, Duvall says the decision to cancel the July cattle report “runs counter to previous commitments to improve fair, competitive and transparent markets. He wrote that by canceling the July cattle report, “NASS cancelled one of the very tentpoles of cattle market transparency”.
He also says the decision could hinder land-grant universities from conducting crop and livestock research. He requested the agency “reconsider the decision to discontinue this critical reporting.”
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Take note: Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told ag journalists this week that conducting surveys can be expensive and said concerned farmers should take their concerns up with the congressional appropriators who USDA’s annual spending bill. “When you’re faced with a limited budget, you have to prioritize,” he said.
FDA tallies 90 cases from tainted cinnamon applesauce
The Food and Drug Administration is transitioning its investigation of lead and chromium in cinnamon applesauce porches to focus on surveillance, prevention and compliance. FDA’s Coordinated Outbreak Response and Evaluation Network received 200 reports of issues potentially linked to recalled applesauce but was only able to confirm 90 cases as of Jan. 31.
FDA’s leading hypothesis is that the contamination was a result of economically motivated adulteration of the cinnamon used in the pouches.
The investigation launched in October 2023 and led to a voluntary recall of WanaBana Apple Cinnamon Fruit Purée products. Shortly after, the recall was expanded to include certain Schnucks and Weis cinnamon applesauce pouches.
Iowa environmental, public health groups ask EPA to intervene on drinking water contamination
The Iowa Environmental Council and other public health partners have petitioned the EPA to address nitrate contamination in drinking water sources in parts of the state.
The state’s Environmental Protection Commission adopted rules at its meeting Tuesday for animal feeding operations that mostly rejected calls for tougher regulations. In the petition, groups including Food & Water Watch and the Environmental Law & Policy Center push EPA to take immediate action under the Safe Drinking Water Act to address ongoing pollution, especially in the karst region of the state.
"The rules adopted by the Environmental Protection Commission show that the state doesn’t care about protecting drinking water if it means imposing any costs or requirements on agriculture. We need EPA intervention to protect Iowans from ongoing pollution," said Josh Mandelbaum, senior attorney for ELPC, in a release.
Last year, groups in Minnesota similarly asked the EPA to take emergency action to address nitrate contamination in drinking water. In November 2023, the agency sided with the advocates and decided the state must develop a plan.
She said it: “They won’t change what they did in 2017 any more than we will change what we did. So we should just call it a draw here.” — Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, comparing Democrats’ passage of the Inflation Reduction Act to the GOP’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Talking to ag journalists, she reiterated her goal of preserving the “climate-smart” focus of any IRA conservation funding that is moved into the farm bill.
Steve Davies, Rebekah Alvey and Noah Wicks contributed to this report.
