With an election year comes speculation about who will win the Presidency and whether the new Administration could reverse some of the more controversial programs of the Obama Administration, including those being pursued by the EPA. Should that happen, a decision last summer by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, en banc, in Organized Village of Kake v. U.S. Department of Agriculture, No. 11-35517, July 29, 2015, http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2015/07/29/11-35517.pdf, could provide guidelines for evaluating such reversals. The case involved a Bush Administration effort to reverse the Clinton Administration’s “Roadless Rule”, promulgated in 2001, just days before the change in administration. In… Read more
Tag: USDA
Welcome Back BCAP!
On October 21, 2010, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the release of the final rule for the Biomass Crop Assistance Program (“BCAP”). Created by the 2008 Farm Bill, BCAP provides two incentive programs to increase biomass fuel supply nationwide. One component of BCAP provides matching payments of $1 per ton of eligible fuel (up to $45/ton) to qualified biomass fuel harvesting, collecting, handling, and or storage entities. The new BCAP amends previous requirements relating to relationships between the buyer and seller and simply requires that all eligible material be purchased at fair market prices, regardless of the parties’… Read more
Impact of Ag and Forests on Greenhouse Gas Emissions
The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that agriculture and forestry could play a prominent role in U.S. efforts to address climate change “if farms and ranches undertake activities that reduce [GHG] emissions or take greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere.” In a recently-released report, “The Role of Agriculture in Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions,” the authors identify opportunities for addressing climate change, including: shifting to conservation tillage, reducing the amount of nitrogen fertilizer applied to crops, changing livestock and manure management practices, and planting trees or grass. In an effort to encourage such activities, the federal government is also considering offering carbon offsets… Read more