Going Too Far & Adding Disaster Counties
Going Too Far & Adding Disaster Counties plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report.
The White House has likely realized that it went too far in its proposed reduction to the Renewable Fuel Standard, according to Bob Dinneen, president and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association. He says people in the White House are probably wondering how they ended up in this mess and how they can correct that mistake.
DINEEN: I think the Administration has recognized that they probably went a little bit too far, that they are hearing from the heartland. They saw more than 200,000 comments filed on their proposal to reduce the RFS and there are probably some folks in the White House right now saying, "What could we do?" And "Why are we on the side of big oil?" And, "How can we get out of this mess?" Which is a good thing and I think they are trying to figure out how we dial this back.
Add Idaho's Elmore County to the list of disaster counties. The USDA has added it to the list due to drought and that makes farmers and ranchers in the county eligible for natural disaster assistance. Farm operators in those regions have until Nov. 19 to apply for low interest emergency loans from the federal Farm Service Agency, as long as they meet certain eligibility requirements.
Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Lacy Gray.
In an interesting turn of events, a South Dakota judge has said she will not be dismissing the defamation lawsuit brought by Beef Products Incorporated against ABC News over the networks continual reporting of its "lean finely textured beef" product as "pink slime" in 2012. ABC is being sued for 1.2 billion dollars by BPI, who claims that ABC harmed its reputation and cost it millions of dollars in sales by the network's mischaracterization of the lean beef product. ABC tried hard to have the case dismissed, arguing that it never said BPI's "lean finely textured beef" product was unsafe. Circuit Court Judge Cheryle Gering, while not stating that she felt defamation actually occurred, obviously felt that the context of some of ABC's statements in their 2012 reports justified allowing BPI's case against ABC to continue. Even though USDA and industry experts said the meat product was safe, some retailers stopped selling ground beef that contained the product after the ABC reports. And BPI closed three of its four plants following the media coverage - putting nearly half of its workforce on the unemployment line.
Thanks Lacy. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.
