As reported last week, TSCRA government affairs staff are continuing work to permanently resolve CERCLA and EPCRA reporting requirements that will affect livestock producers. Fortunately, the court has not yet issued its official mandate, and the EPA has even requested that the court wait to issue the mandate until more work can be done. At this time, TSCRA is not expecting a significant impact on ranchers if CERCLA reporting requirements are enacted prior to our ability to find a long-term exemption for agriculture operations, but we will provide more updates as the situation progresses.
The biggest news out of Washington this week was the government shutdown. Although the government did briefly close its doors, the situation was resolved early this week with little, if any, direct impact on cattle producers.
TSCRA government affairs staff also provided comments to USDA-APHIS this week on an environmental assessment over the implementation of cattle fever tick eradication strategies on the Laguna Atascosa and Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuges. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) appears committed to furthering its fever tick eradication efforts. You can read more here.