Page Title

ACA
NEWSLETTER

       NEWSLETTER

Volume 71, No. 1                                                                         January 27, 2010

A COLD AND STRANGE WINTER!

The month of January has brought the coldest temperatures of recent years and equally as
strange as the political forecast. Congressman Synder announced that he will not run for
reelection and then, on January 25, 2010, Congressman Marion Berry announced his
retirement. Arkansas will elect at least half of the House delegation this year; and, if
Congressman Boozman decides to enter the Senate race, that number will grow to two- thirds
of our delegation.

I believe this will be a history making election. We know that one of the strongest advocates
for agriculture, Marion Berry, will not be returning to Washington after the current term.
Since his first election to the House, Congressman Berry has been instrumental in the
development of farm bills providing safety nets for southern agriculture. The next farm bill is
expected to be a much bigger mountain to climb in respect to safety nets. The lists for both
congressional positions are long and filled with potentially well-qualified candidates.   Rest
assured the elected freshmen congressmen will represent the state with the same high level
of integrity as their predecessors. It is extremely important to the agricultural community to
elect persons with a good working knowledge of Arkansas’s Agriculture.
We will lose seniority but that does not mean we have to lose knowledge about the number
one industry in our state.

Congressmen Berry and Synder will be missed; we thank them for their service to the State
of Arkansas and to the Nation and we wish them both the best in the next phase of their lives.

We remain hopeful that a disaster assistance bill, in both the Senate and House, will find a
vehicle to attach to so that some amount of a direct payment will be dispensed to those in
counties that are declared as disasters.

Senator Blanche Lincoln is Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee. If you look at the
membership of The Senate Agriculture Committee, you will find that without Senator Lincoln
in her position as Chairman, we will have an impossible task of developing a farm bill that will
provide a safety net for southern agriculture. Senator Lincoln is in the current election cycle
and is running for reelection this November. The next farm bill will be developed shortly
after the election.

Lincoln, Chambliss Leadership on Greenhouse Gas Regulation Reassuring

The National Cotton Council (NCC) reported it was reassuring to the agricultural community
to see Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Chairman Blanche Lincoln
(D-AR) and Ranking Member Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) responding to 138 diverse
organizations by joining 35 other senators in co-sponsoring a measure that would keep U.S.
farmers and ranchers from economic harm.

The NCC said Senator Murkowski (R-AK) introduced a “resolution of disapproval.” If
passed, it will repeal EPA’s endangerment finding on greenhouse gases (GHG), preventing
EPA from regulating GHGs under the Clean Air Act (CAA).

A resolution of disapproval is a provision of the Congressional Review Act which allows
Congress to review every new federal regulation issued by government agencies. The
resolution cannot be amended or filibustered in the Senate but there is no similar “fast-track”
process in the House. The resolution requires presidential approval.

The NCC co-ordinated a letter supporting Murkowski’s resolution and received an
overwhelming response. A total of 138 agricultural organizations signed on to the letter.
EPA announced on December 7 its “endangerment finding” that GHGs threaten the public
health and welfare of the American people and that GHG emissions from on-road vehicles
contribute to that threat. This finding responds to the 2007 U.S. Supreme Court decision in
Massachusetts v. EPA that GHGs fit within the CAA definition of air pollutants. The decision
did not compel EPA to act, but simply said that it could.

“An endangerment finding will trigger numerous regulatory actions,” said NCC Chairman Jay
Hardwick, a Louisiana cotton producer. “The costs of compliance would be overwhelming as
millions of entities, including farms and ranches, would be subject to burdensome, time-
consuming and costly regulations. EPA has acknowledged the overwhelming economic burden
by proposing to apply the regulations only to large sources of emissions. It is widely expected
that this ‘tailoring rule’ will be challenged in court and could be revoked.”

The NCC points out that the EPA rule claims only a weak, indirect link between GHGs and
public health and welfare and cites uncertainties over the net, direct health impacts of the
GHGs it is attempting to regulate. “CAA regulations for GHGs, if imposed across the board,
will impose a huge economic cost on U.S. industries and farms and ranches – including U.S.
cotton farmers – by increasing energy and input costs and rendering U.S. cotton and products
uncompetitive in international markets,” Hardwick said. “China and India, two of the largest
emitters of greenhouse gases, continue to reject any verifiable reduction measures. Without
an effective international agreement on emission reductions, unilateral action by the U.S.
damages our economy and encourages businesses to relocate overseas.”

WELCOME NEW ACA MEMBERS

Thanks to our new members for choosing to let the Council represent their agricultural
interests at the state level as well as at the federal level. It is our goal to continue to supply
all our members with the most up-to-date information on state and federal developments in
agriculture affecting Arkansans.

Our newest Primary Members are: Wallace Farms, England, AR; F. D. A. Farms LLC,
Caraway, AR; West Planting Company, Marianna, AR; England Oil Seed Enterprises,
England; M & G Farms, Tyronza, AR; The McNeill Family Limited Partnership, Little
Rock, AR; Agri Business Properties, LLC, Brinkley.