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12/22/2020 The $900 billion pandemic relief legislation passed by Congress late Monday includes $33 billion in aid for farms, broadband, biofuels and nutrition programs. Agriculture groups were quick to praise the bipartisan package, months in the making. The aid includes $11.2 billion Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue will use to “support producers, processors, and contract growers,” the American Farm Bureau Federation reported. “We’re pleased that Congress understands that there’s been a toll that this pandemic has continued to take on farmers, ranchers, and rural America,” Scott Bennett, congressional relations director for Farm Bureau, said in a Farm Bureau podcast. “This round of assistance, it addresses losses suffered by farmers who were forced to euthanize livestock prematurely with no market and therefore no income, and that includes contract growers,” Bennett said. “We’re pleased that the bill provides additional help fo
Agricultural and biofuels groups as well as farm state lawmakers are pleased that the new COVID relief package passed by Congress last night includes help for producers excluded from previous aid legislation.
Sen. John Thune (R-SD) says relief includes the Paycheck Protection Program for Producers Act. “The bill also includes funding to allow the Department of Agriculture to provide additional assistance to ag producers who were dealing with a tough economy before the pandemic hit,” said Thune.
The bill explicitly makes producers of biofuels like ethanol and biodiesel eligible for USDA assistance, at the discretion of the secretary. “Biofuel producers have suffered from the drop in fuel demand during the pandemic and I hope the secretary will ensure that they are able to receive assistance,” Thune said. Sen. John Thune (R-SD) on COVID relief for agriculture :58
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NEW YORK (Reuters) - A coalition of U.S. biofuel groups announced on Tuesday it had filed a brief with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals challenging the Trump administration’s decision in 2019 to grant 31 oil refineries exemptions from U.S. biofuel blending obligations.
The brief borrows arguments from a successful case that several members of the group had filed in the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. That case spurred controversy this year when the court sided with the biofuel industry and cast doubt on the legitimacy of the waiver program.
The biofuel industry claims the waivers hurt demand for corn-based ethanol; the oil industry disputes that and says the exemptions are needed to keep small refineries afloat.
-The Hagstrom Report
The House and the Senate late Monday passed the fiscal year 2021 omnibus appropriations bill and a COVD-19 relief package, sending the legislation to President Donald Trump for his signature.
The omnibus appropriations bill will cost $1.4 trillion and the COVD-19 relief package $900 billion.
The measure was split in two in the House.
The House vote on Divisions B,C, E and F was 327 to 85, with 43 Republicans, 41 Democrats and one Independent opposing it.
The House vote on the rest of the combined bill was 359 to 53, with 50 Republicans, two Democrats and one independent opposing it.
The vote in the Senate was 92 to 6.
NTSB recommends better placement of buffer cars
NTSB gives three recommendations to trade groups and federal agencies governing rail movements of hazardous materials 549 3 minutes read NTSB issued several safety recommendations regarding the placement of buffer cars. (Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)
The freight rail industry needs to reconsider where it places buffer cars and tank cars on trains carrying hazardous materials in order to better protect train crew members and reduce the severity of a potential accident, according to recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board concerning two accidents in April 2019 and February 2020.
NTSB’s safety recommendations come from its investigations into two incidents involving breached U.S. Department of Transportation-111 tank cars on high-hazard flammable trains.