Transportation issues are at the top of the list of public policy concerns for ag retailers meeting in New Orleans this week.
“We plan to make it a priority going into the new Congress,” said Agricultural Retailers Association senior VP for public policy Richard Gupton who updated the membership this morning. “Senator Thune is going to be the new chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee and he has legislation to reform the Surface Transportation Board and make it more accountable and have a forum that shippers can take their case to.”
Another important issue for the ARA is a pesticide permit fix. “We think the opportunity now with the change in the Senate will allow that to take place,” said Gupton. “It’s got bi-partisan, bicameral support, it should have been done in the farm bill but we hope to get it taken care of.”
Like everyone else in agriculture, the ag retailers are also concerned about EPA’s proposed Waters of the United States rule. “Again, with the new Congress, there’s legislation to have EPA basically come back to the drawing board on the Waters of the US proposal,” Gupton said. “There’s confusion about what they proposed and they keep changing what the proposal is as you’re supposed to be commenting on the rule.”
Listen to Chuck’s interview with Richard here: [wpaudio url=”http://www.zimmcomm.biz/ara/ara-14-gupton.mp3″ text=”Interview with Richard Gupton, ARA”]