01/05/07 Congress, energy incentive, resuming Doha

The 110th Congress began yesterday and incoming House Ag Chairman Collin Peterson says he is still trying to get enough democrats on his committee to organize the panel  before he can do any business. Peterson says he is still four democrats short  since the old ratio of 25 republicans and 21 democrats must now be "flipped" to give the democrats the advantage. And he says until that happens: PETERSON: We have to wait and see, you know who our members are and once that's done we'll be able to pick a sub-committee chairman and get organized. Cliff Bar and Company  the energy and nutrition people in Berkeley, California have launched the nation's first incentive program that pays cash to employees who purchase clean-burning diesel cars that run on biodiesel. Clif Bar is paying 5-thousand dollars to employees who switch to 100 percent biodiesel for their commutes. The company also offers the same incentive for hybrid vehicles and other incentives for less petro-fuel usage. U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab is scheduled to meet with Brazil's Foreign Minister today. The New York Times reports the two trade negotiators plan to discuss how to resume the Doha Round of World Trade Organization talks and to overcome the obstacles that have prevented a global trade deal designed to strengthen the global economy. Now here's today's Washington Grange. (Grange Report) That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.