Atrazine Availability, Infrastructure Funding, And Truck Driver Reform
Covering a full slate of round ups from DC, Richard Gupton, Senior Vice President of Public Policy & Counsel, joined The Scoop podcast to talk about everything from atrazine to infrastructure.
Regarding the just released new new EPA Risk Management Plan proposal, Gupton says the points outlined could directly effect ag retailers.
“There are public listening sessions for EPA coming up in September. We encourage members to be aware and engage,” Gupton says. “ There are requirements related to working with emergency responders, and information provided to the local communities, third party audits, there's a whole host of other things that they just need to be aware of.”
A top of mind regulatory change are the pending changes to EPA’s registration for atrazine products. Gupton says the impact of these changes could be as far-reaching as the well remembered WOTUS map showing it’s effect.
“This could impact 65 million acres of corn, sorghum and sugar cane,” Gupton says. “It will almost make it unusable, given what their restrictions would be. And the data and science shows it's safe to use has been used for decades. Atrazine is an essential tool so we're concerned about it and plan to send out a grassroots alert to our members get them engaged.”
One bipartisan piece of legislation the ARA is celebrating its recent activity on is the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) reauthorization.
“It's one of the few bipartisan things that needs to get done. And has been getting done because it reauthorizes essential infrastructure projects for inland waterways, which is essential to move grain downstream and fertilizer upstream. They've been on a roll since 2014 to reauthorize WRDA every two years. So we want to keep keep it going,” Gupton says.
Talking more about infrastructure, Gupton says there’s a timely call to action for retailers to reach out to their House members.
“With the House Surface Transportation Board Reauthorization bill we're encouraging as many members to support that as possible. There's likely to be a House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee vote this September. So, it may not get done this year but it really sets the stage for legislation going in the next Congress. So we're trying to generate as much support as possible. There's no Senate companion bill at the moment.”
Another timely update is the potential for a railroad strike.
“We have a few weeks to work things out. But the stakes are high. They have until September 16,” Gupton says.
Another piece to the logistics needed for the ag retail industry is over the road trucking.
While ARA continuing its advocacy for the Drive Safe Act, Gupton reminds ag retailers to sign up for the FMCSA’s young drive pilot program, which allows for up to 3,000 drivers aged 18 to 20 years old to haul products across multiple states. He says this is necessary to get enough data to help support additional changes to expand the driver pool.
Additionally, FMCSA has indicated they will issue a proposal this month to implement reform from the infrastructure bill passed by Congress last year. This would provide for seasonal ag CDL reforms.
Gupton also brings to the spotlight work to eliminate the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
“We encourage people to utilize the COVID-19 vaccines, but these types of mandates in place adversely impact product being delivered across the board in a timely way. So we're hopeful that those that type issue can be resolved,” he says.
Hear the full report from Gupton on The Scoop podcast.
