“The ruling in Sackett v. EPA was a chance for EPA and the Army Corps to correct a deeply flawed, prematurely released rule and work to truly improve water quality outcomes,” said Ted McKinney, Chief Executive Officer of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture. “It is baffling that the revised rule does not accurately address all the issues and questions raised by the Supreme Court in the Sackett decision, nor does it address many of the questions stakeholder groups raised about the WOTUS rule EPA released at the end of last year.”

The National Council of Farmer Cooperatives (NCFC) also expressed disappointment with the revised rule. NCFC cited the latest action as a “missed opportunity” to remedy an issue that has been the source of significant concern and litigation for several years now. The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) echoed a similar sentiment.

“EPA had a golden opportunity to write a Waters of the U.S. Rule that’s fair to farmers and stands the test of time, but instead chose to continue government overreach and revise only a small slice of the rule that was rejected by the Supreme Court,” said AFBF President Zippy Duval. “EPA has ignored other clear concerns raised by the Justices, 26 states, and farmers across the country about the rule’s failure to respect private property rights and the Clean Water Act.”

Agricultural Retailers Association President and CEO Daren Coppock also described the new WOTUS rule as a failure in adequately addressing the issues raised over the past several months. “Repeating mistakes will only lead to the continuation of flawed, unworkable regulations that will be litigated in the federal courts,” Coppock noted. The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) also confirmed the response of many in the agricultural sector.

“The agency failed to open the process to public comment and engagement, which would have been extremely valuable,” said NCGA President Tom Haag. “Instead, the agency has released a rule that does not fully respect the holdings from the recent U.S. Supreme Court case on WOTUS.”

Source:

Advocates also outlined a range of “extreme and unusual” factors impacting the stability of U.S. fuel markets, including historically low domestic fuel inventories, record exports of U.S. fuel to allies overseas, and continued inflationary pressures on fuel consumers. Protecting summer access to E15 would help relieve pressure on U.S. fuel supplies, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions, lowering evaporative emissions, and supporting America’s farmers and rural economies, they argued. 

“While a permanent solution that would allow E15 sales year-round remains an important necessity, we urge you to take action on a temporary, emergency RVP waiver as soon as possible to remedy current and expected supply challenges resulting from ongoing conflict in Ukraine,” concluded the letter. 

Source:

The court ruling stems from a May 2018 challenge brought against the EPA by the National Corn Growers Association, National Farmers Union, Renewable Fuels Association, and the American Coalition for Ethanol.

“The Court has affirmed our long-held position that EPA’s recent practices and policies regarding small refinery exemption extensions were completely unlawful,” said RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper. “And while the decision addresses three specific exemptions, the statutory interpretation issues resolved by the court apply much more broadly.”

Among other findings, the court held that the EPA cannot extend exemptions to any small refineries whose earlier, temporary exemptions had lapsed.

EPA’s data show that a maximum of only seven small refineries could have received continuous extensions of their previously existing exemptions. Yet the agency recently has granted as many as 35 exemptions in a single year.

“The Court’s decision is welcome news for corn growers,” said National Corn Growers Association President Kevin Ross. “Ethanol is an incredibly important value-added market for corn farmers, and EPA’s waivers have reduced RFS volume requirements by more than 4 billion gallons over the past three years, impacting corn demand. We are optimistic this decision will finally put an end to the demand destruction caused by waivers and get the RFS back on track.”

Source: AGDAILY

The winner, a farmer from Charles City, Va. set the highest yield on record at 616.1953 bushels per acre.

The National Corn Growers Association sponsors the friendly competition as a means to share information and find new ways for corn growers to excel.

Despite adverse growing conditions that impacted most farmers, improved seed varieties, advanced production techniques and innovative growing practices, allowed corn growers to achieve many impressive yields across all categories again this year, NCGA said.

The 27 winners in nine production categories had verified yields averaging more than 383 bushels per acre, compared to the projected national average of 167 bushels per acre in 2019.

Yields from first, second and third place farmers overall production categories topped out at 616.1953 bushels per acre.

Source: NCGA

“EPA’s proposal does not ensure sufficiently accurate projections for waived
gallons and, therefore, will continue to shortchange the RFS when waivers are granted,” NCGA President Kevin Ross wrote.

The conclusion of the comments period kicks off a review that is expected to result in a final rule this winter, the EPA said. The proposed rule would use a three-year average of Department of Energy (DOE) recommended waivers rather than address the impact of waived renewable fuel gallons based on exemptions granted, NCGA said. By using DOE recommendations,
not actual waived gallons, EPA’s proposal to redistribute any future waived
gallons is half of what President Trump committed to farm-state senators.

Former Iowa governor and current ambassador to China Terry Branstad
met with Trump recently to lay out the industry’s concerns. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has also been consulted.

Sources: NCGA, Politico

Farmers expressed outrage in late summer after the EPA announced it was granting 31 waivers to small refineries, exempting them from blending ethanol into gasoline. They were reassured this month when the administration said it would require other larger refineries to add those exempted gallons into their fuels.

But last week, the EPA released the fine print, and the proposed rule would call on those larger refineries to add ethanol based on projections rather than the actual number of gallons exempted. This is angering ethanol groups that had praised the policy a week earlier.

“President Trump made a commitment to farmers and instructed the EPA to follow the law,” said National Corn Growers Association President Kevin Ross, “but this proposal appears to come up short again.”

Geoff Cooper, president and CEO with the Renewable Fuels Association, said that “if the Oct. 4 announcement from EPA was a big step forward, today’s supplemental proposal is a step backward.”

The Iowa Corn Growers Association said in a statement that it was “outraged the Environmental Protection Agency did not implement the details that were presented and outlined by the president only eleven days ago.”

Ethanol producers worry there will be a disconnect between the actual number of gallons of ethanol that are not blended into the fuel supply after the EPA doles out waivers and the number of gallons the government projects will be exempted.

The proposal faces a 30-day comment period, and the EPA expects to finalize a new policy by the end of the year.

Neil Caskey, vice president of communications for the NCGA, will speak at the Marketing & Distribution Convention in in St. Louis next month. He will discuss the state of the ag industry and what’s ahead.

Source: The Hill