Federal

A draft of Utah's lawsuit demanding the federal government turn over 30 million acres to the state is expected to be complete by next week, but Democrats on the commission overseeing the project still want to know more about how $1 million in taxpayer dollars have been spent.  Rep. Keven Stratton, R-Orem, co-chairman of the Commission for the Stewardship of Public Lands, said he plans to have a finished draft of the state's potential lawsuit to present to lawmakers when they hold their monthly meetings June 15. It would be up to Attorney General Sean Reyes and Gov. [node:read-more:link]

The disturbing thing about scams is that all too often they work.  Some are easy to spot, like the foreign cousin you didn’t know you had who calls and needs cash wired immediately.  Here in Idaho, the scam of the moment involves politicians trying hard to convince us that states should take control of public lands now managed by the federal government. Like good used car salesmen, the legislators hawking this free-the-public-lands scam want you to believe that the deal is too good to walk away from.  But a look under the hood reveals that the salesmen aren’t telling the whole story. [node:read-more:link]

Wednesday, June 8: The Senate Tuesday approved a major overhaul of Toxic Substances Control Act, sending it the President Obama, who is expected to quickly sign it. The normally divided Congress got together this week to take on a major overhaul of the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act, giving the Environmental Protection Agency broad new authority to regulate chemicals in millions of products American use every day. “When Americans go to the grocery store and hardware store, they assume products they buy have been tested and are safe; they aren’t,” Sen. [node:read-more:link]

A coalition representing more than 6,000 organic farmers from the western, midwestern and eastern U.S. has asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture to reject the Organic Trade Assn.'s (OTA) proposal to establish a national organic checkoff program.  The 2014 farm bill included language that would allow USDA to institute a multi-commodity organic checkoff program, if desired by the industry. [node:read-more:link]

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration should go through a public rulemaking process before imposing new Process Safety Management (PSM) regulations on fertilizer dealers who handle anhydrous ammonia. The fight over the requirements has been going on since OSHA issued guidance last July that revoked the so-called “retailer exemption” from the PSM standards. Ag retailers, who contend that implementing PSM requirements would cost them dearly, protested and then sued. A ruling from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals is pending. [node:read-more:link]

Mexico’s Ministry of Economy released its final determination on the antidumping case filed by its domestic growers Tuesday, finding imports from the U.S. did not cause injury to the domestic industry.  The country has terminated the antidumping investigation on imports of U.S. apples without the imposition of antidumping duties, and the provisional duties ranging from 2.44% to 20.82% are revoked. [node:read-more:link]

A new rule finalized by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to collate sale data on antibiotics has annoyed animal producer organizations. [node:read-more:link]

A severe shortage of workers is costing Canada’s farm industry an estimated $1.5 billion a year in lost revenue and is driving up the cost of food for Canadian consumers, anew industry study states.  The study, conducted by the Conference Board of Canada on behalf of the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council, found there are currently about 59,000 unfilled farm jobs in Canada. And that number is expected to balloon to 114,000 by 2025, as the demand for food and agriculture-industry workers continues to grow and older workers retire. [node:read-more:link]

An animal rights group has filed a complaint against Washington State University, asking the federal government to fine the university over the deaths of two grizzly bears and the overdosing of three bighorn sheep. A group called Stop Animal Exploitation Now asked the Animal Plant Health Inspection Service, part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, to fine the university $10,000 for each infraction cited in an April 26 inspection report by the agency. [node:read-more:link]

Agriculture is an industry that depends heavily on exports with some 30% of our production sold to other countries. That explains the reason why the Ag industry has so much interest in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement that has been negotiated with 12 nations representing 40% of the world’s gross domestic product. Farm organizations and Ag businesses are trying to convince the Congress to approve the deal.  Keep in mind that although the TPP has been negotiated, it still must be approved by the Congress and signed by the President. [node:read-more:link]