California Waiver Decision Coming

May 2, 2001

Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman Tuesday told farm broadcasters a decision on whether to grant California a waiver from the nation's reformulated gasoline program could come this month. She made the comment in response to questions on subjects that included energy, mandatory price reporting and the upcoming farm bill debate.

Veneman reiterated her previously stated objective to have "all aspects of the food chain come together" to develop an agriculture policy that the administration can support for the next farm bill, due to be finalized next year if not sooner. The U.S. food system is "consumer driven," she said, and agriculture and the food industry need to recognize that. She said the administration had no proposal and did not give any indication if one would be tabled.

As a member of President Bush's Task Force on Energy headed by Vice President Dick Cheney, Veneman said she has sat in on task force meetings. Although agriculture has a large stake in the directions the administration takes in developing a comprehensive approach to solving the nation's energy shortages, she gave no indication if any agriculture-related issues were being considered, such as more ethanol use and development of biomass fuels. Many agriculture-related practices, such as irrigation, cold storage, food processing, etc., are affected by the "rolling blackouts" that California has been forced to implement, she added.

She admitted that livestock mandatory price reporting has had a difficult time getting on a smooth track and acknowledged "glitches" in the system. However, she said the number of reports needed under the new law were "massive" and USDA may consider recommending revisions in the reporting system.

In her remarks to the National Association of Farm Broadcasters she said no decision has been made on whether to allow California to opt out of the nation's reformulated gasoline program, but it was up to the Environmental Protection Agency, not USDA, to decide.