trump administration

Last week, EPA Administrator Michael Regan defended his agency’s issuing its final WOTUS rule in December, ahead of what could be a watershed Supreme Court WOTUS ruling later this year.  Regan was pressed by Republican senators at an Environment and Public Works hearing on why EPA jumped ahead of the Supreme Court’s ruling expected by June in Sackett vs. EPA, a case many bel...

The Biden administration's version of the Waters of the U.S. rule went into effect Monday, but not for everyone.  Over the weekend, a Texas federal judge put the updated WOTUS on hold in Idaho as well as the Lone Star State.  The Court’s order Sunday granted a preliminary injunction halting the Biden WOTUS rules only for Idaho and Texas, who co-led a lawsuit.  The suits argued that E...

A USDA report on 2022 exports showed higher values and lower volumes last year.  Brian Kuehl, executive director for Farmers for Free Trade, called the results a double-edged sword.   “The inflation has driven up commodity prices, and a lot of that's been driven by the war in Ukraine and by the supply chain disruptions coming out of the pandemic.  So, the good ...

The U.S. is currently in a third round of talks to redo the World Trade Organization’s trade dispute arbitration system.  The U.S. Ambassador to the WTO told Reuters that America wants it to be fully up and running by the end of 2024.   The WT...

It was January 15th, 2020 when the U.S. and China signed the Phase One Trade agreement, which the Trump Administration said tore down major market barriers for American food and Ag exports.  The long-term hope was China would committee to buying even larger amounts of U.S. produc...

The EPA and Army Corps of Engineers published the revised WOTUS rule in the Federal Register this week.  The publication means the revised rule will go into effect on March 20th.   EPA and the Army Corps announced the rule at the end of 2022, which will replace the Navigable Waters Protection Rule from the Trump Administration.  At the ...

According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, the EPA’s timing in issuing a final Waters of the U.S. rule last week, ahead of a Supreme Court decision, will only cause more disruption and uncertainty for producers.  “Considerable confusion on the ground for the regulated community,” the Farm Bureau noted.   “That was one of t...

The Biden EPA has issued a final rewrite of Trump-era WOTUS reforms, and farm groups like National Cattlemen are not happy.  NCBA Chief Counsel Mary-Thomas Hart said the Biden Administration’s final Waters of the U.S. rule is tainted.   “The r...

It's been two years since the Great American Outdoor Act was signed into law.  The legislation was crafted to address many of the Forest Service roads, buildings, bridges, campsites and more had fallen into disrepair. "From years of underfunding and increasing public use," noted Jeffery Vail leads the Forest Service's Great American Outdoor Act implementation team.  He...

The U.S. has tariffs in place on over $300 billion worth of Chinese imports.  U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said those duties give the U.S. significant leverage on China, making them useful when negotiating with the Asian nation. Bloom...