A comprehensive summary of today’s judicial, legislative, and regulatory developments in agriculture and food. Email important additions HERE.
Judicial:
In In re MCP NO. 165, Occupational Safety & Health Admin., No. 21-4027, 2021 WL 5989357 (6th Cir. Dec. 17, 2021), the court considered whether to dissolve the stay on the OSHA vaccine mandate issued by the Fifth Circuit. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit dissolved the Fifth’s Circuit’s nationwide stay of the OSHA vaccine mandate. The Sixth Circuit dissolved the stay because it found that OSHA likely acted within its statutory authority in issuing the mandate; that the OSHA mandate likely was not barred by the major-questions doctrine; that OSHA likely had an adequate basis for implementing the mandate; and that the OSHA mandate is likely constitutional.
REGULATORY: AMS, CCC, EPA, FWS, FS, NOAA
AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE
Final rule revising the Lamb Promotion, Research, and Information Order, requiring market agencies in the business of receiving lambs to collect and remit on behalf of the producer, feeder, or seedstock producer, the “live-weight” assessment on ovine animals sold and the “price-per-head” assessment owed by the first handler when lambs are sold through these channels. Info here.
COMMODITY CREDIT CORPORATION
Notice increasing the fiscal year 2022 overall sugar marketing allotment quantity, State cane sugar allotments, and revise company allocations to sugar beet and sugar cane processors, which apply to all domestic beet and cane sugar marketed for human consumption in the United States from October 1, 2021, through September 30, 2022. Info here.
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
Final rule establishing exemptions from the requirement of a tolerance for residues of various fragrance components listed in unit II of this document when they are used as inert ingredients in antimicrobial pesticide formulations for use on food contact surfaces in public eating places, dairy processing equipment, and food processing equipment and utensils with end-use concentration not to exceed 100 parts per million (ppm). Info here.
FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICES
Proposed rule proposing to list the cactus ferruginous pygmy-owl (Glaucidium brasilianum cactorum), a subspecies found in Mexico, southern Arizona, and southern Texas, as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. Info here.
FOREST SERVICE
Proposed rule proposing to amend its existing regulations to charge a statutorily required annual programmatic administrative fee for new and existing communications use authorizations to cover the costs of administering the Agency’s communications use program. Info here.
NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION
Temporary rule reapportioning the projected unused amount, 200 Chinook salmon prohibited species catch limit, from the vessels participating in directed fishing for pollock in the Central Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) to Rockfish Program catcher vessel sector in the Central Regulatory Area of the GOA. Info here.
Temporary rule reallocating the projected unused amounts of Pacific cod total allowable catch from catcher vessels using trawl gear to catcher/processors using trawl gear in the Central Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska. Info here.
Final rule announcing that the states of Delaware and Maryland are transferring a portion of their 2021 commercial bluefish quota to the states of North Carolina and Rhode Island, respectively. Info here.
Final rule announcing that the Commonwealth of Virginia and the State of Florida are transferring a portion of their 2021 commercial bluefish quota to the states of North Carolina and Rhode Island, respectively. Info here.
Temporary rule reopening the General category fishery for four days within the December 2021 General category subquota period. This action is intended to provide a reasonable opportunity to harvest the annual U.S. bluefin tuna quota without exceeding it, while maintaining an equitable distribution of fishing opportunities across time periods. Info here.