Administration Moves to Regulate Water
The Environmental Protection Agency issued “guidance” yesterday that lays out the agency’s determination of what waters of the United States fall under the protection of the Clean Water Act. It is a landmark in a longstanding battle over the extent of the Clean Water Act’s authority. The “guidance” document, now open to a 60 day comment period, would expand the federal definition of...
Read MoreTornados Kill Hundreds in Southeast
In the most devastating round of killer twisters in 37 years, at least 297 have been killed in six states. Damage and devastation in communities like Tuscaloosa, AL (the state’s 5th largest community) have left thousands homeless and thousands more without power. The city of Tuscaloosa resembles The Blitz, with a 4-mile path of sheer destruction as a result of an F-4 sized tornado that swept...
Read MoreThe Weekly Links
New Pairs of Compounds May Help Tree Nuts Fight Fungal Foe USDA ARS Some crunchy, good-for-you tree nuts like almonds and pistachios are vulnerable to attack by a troublesome mold known as Aspergillus flavus. USDA scientists in Albany, Calif., are fighting back. South Denver suburbs preparing to end reliance on super-deep wells Denver Post South metro suburbs, worried about a slowing flow of...
Read MoreNoem’s First Bill Targets EPA Dust Regulations
First-term Rep. Kristi Noem (R-S.D.) picked a popular rural-states target—the Environmental Protection Agency—for her first sponsored bill in the House, according to the Rapid City Journal. Noem joined three colleagues from both political parties in sponsoring legislation to limit the ability of EPA to regulate dust as a pollutant on farms and ranches. The American Farm Bureau Federation...
Read MoreCattle Market Off to Stunning Performance
The cattle market has put on a stunning performance so far in 2011, according to John Anderson, livestock economist for the American Farm Bureau Federation. “While fed cattle prices have dipped a bit in the last couple of weeks, the recent rally has obliterated all previous price records,” Anderson wrote in the April 2011 AFBF Livestock Market Update. “These remarkable cattle prices have...
Read MoreLegislative Tracking 2013
