Senate Holds out for ‘Reduction, Refund’ Climate Bill; Some Say Likely Not until 2011
Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D, WV) this week told a home town audience he doesn’t see a consensus emerging that will bring climate change legislation to the floor during 2010. He said further fixes on health care, a jobs package and the financial reregulation bill will take up the remaining Senate floor time this session. However, the trio of Senators trying to forge a 60-vote compromise has not given up the fight. Sens. John Kerry (D, MA), Lindsey Graham (R, SC) and Joe Lieberman (I, CT) are still meeting with industry and environmental groups in hopes of getting final language that will survive a floor vote.
Kerry, hypersensitive to any reference to “cap-and-trade” being attached to his effort, has taken to calling the bill-in-progress “reduction and refund” legislation, a nod to a bill introduced two weeks ago by Sens. Maria Cantwell (D, WA) and Susan Collins (R, ME), which has as its most notable feature a provision under which income to the federal government from selling permits to utilities, which live under capped emissions standards, would be refunded to consumers on their electric bills.
Other details reported from the various meetings include a separate cap on manufacturing that would not kick until four years after the utility cap; preemption of state and local emissions laws, with a possible grandfather provision for states like California which have emissions caps now; incentives for natural gas-powered vehicles, and expansion of offshore drilling in federal waters with the states garnering 25% of the revenue from exploration permitting. The Kerry/Graham/Lieberman draft still must pass review at the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and EPA for review.
Bill to Extend Ethanol Tax Breaks Draws Heavy Fire
As expected, a bill by Reps. John Shimkus (R, IL) and Earl Pomeroy (D, ND) to extend through 2015 the 45-cent-per-gallon ethanol federal tax credit and ethanol’s 51-cent-per-gallon import tariff when they expire at the end of December, has drawn sharp criticism from the food side of the food versus fuel debate.
The American Meat Institute said, “Unfortunately, this bill continues the unfair support and protection corn-based ethanol has enjoyed for more than 30 years at the expense of the American taxpayer and the livestock and poultry producers who rely on corn for feed,” adding the tax credit is a “crutch” and the industry needs to “compete on its own in our free-market system.”
The Grocery Manufacturers Association said, “This bill would also extend the unnecessary corn ethanol tax credit and import tariff at the expense of more sustainable biofuels,” and urged Congress to shift its dollars so that “advanced biofuels do not pit our energy security against our food security.” The Clean Air Task Force said the bill provides incentives to a fuel “that’s even worse for the climate than gasoline.”
Meat Traceback Bill Introduced
A bill by Sen. Jon Tester (D, MT) to enhance the government’s ability to trace contaminated meat back to its source is drawing cautious support from industry. Tester’s bill addresses USDA’s unwillingness or inability to trace back contaminated meat beyond the packing plant or the butcher shop from which the meat came, and his bill would extend traceback to the slaughter plant. Tester would require USDA’s Food Safety & Inspection Service, under current budget and authority, to design and implement a system to trace tainted meat to the source of contamination. The bill also enhances testing at meat suppliers and individual meat processors.
President Ignores GOP Warnings, Issues 15 Recess Appointments Including Trade Execs.
Despite Senate GOP warnings that any recess appointments would further erode relations between the Senate and the White House, President Obama this week announced 15 such appointments, including industry-supported candidates for major Office of Special Trade Representative positions. Obama named Islam “Isi” Siddiqi to be the U.S. Special Trade Representative’s chief agricultural trade negotiator, a nomination supported by AFIA. Also on the list was Michael Punke to be deputy U.S. Trade Representative, and former Rep. Jill Long Thompson (D, IN) to be a member of the Farm Credit Administration board of directors. Siddiqi, a former Clinton Administration under secretary of agriculture for marketing and regulatory programs, is also a former vice president for science and regulatory affairs and ag biotechnology and trade at CropLife America. All three appointments were first made in September, 2009, and all have been recommended for full Senate confirmation by the respective Senate oversight committees. A recess appointment allows the appointed person to serve in the designated job until the end of the congressional session or until confirmed.
2010 Corn Plantings up 3%, Soybeans Up Less than 1%: USDA
Corn growers plan to plant about 89 million acres of corn for all purposes this year, about 3% more than last year and 2008, USDA reported this week. The acreage expansion is due to reduced winter wheat acreage this year and expectations of net higher corn prices. Acreage increases of 300,000 acres or more are expected in Illinois, Kansas, Missouri and Ohio, USDA said, with the largest drop in acreage expected in Iowa and Texas. Soybean farmers say they’ll plant about 78 million acres, less than 1% more than last year, but still the largest planted area on record. Biggest acreage increases are expected in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. The biggest decreases are expected in Georgia and North Carolina.
All wheat planted area is estimated at 53.8 million acre, down 9% from 2009, with winter wheat at 37.7 million acres down 13% from last year.
THIS AND THAT
It is with sadness that we report the death of former state senator ROBERT MILACEK of Waukomis. He served both in the state house and senate, and was a true friend of rural Oklahoma.
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