Regulatory Transactions

From: Bloomberg Government

Below are data and analyses from Bloomberg Government analysts about the business impact of the partial government shutdown.

Renewable Fuel Standard

The federal shutdown has put a number of forthcoming EPA rules on hold. The 2014 Renewable Fuel Standard requirements — which are technically due by Nov. 30 — are probably the most time-sensitive. EPA has promised to consider the “blend wall” and other constraints in its 2014 rulemaking, so industry is eagerly awaiting the agency’s proposal. Compliance in 2014 is uncertain unless the total target is significantly lowered.

From: The Heartland Institute

Taylor Smith

The Obama administration has quietly increased the federal government’s estimated social costs for carbon emissions, which are a major factor in federal government decisions regarding land development, business permits, energy production, carbon dioxide restrictions, and a host of other applications. But glaring flaws in the science and economic assumptions behind the new estimate suggest it is both dubious and wasteful.

The White House Interagency Working Group produced a technical document providing a new formula for how the federal government calculates the asserted social costs of carbon dioxide emissions. According to the document, the new formula will “allow agencies to incorporate the social benefits of reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in cost-benefit analyses of regulatory actions that impact cumulative global emissions.”

Editor’s Note:  The EPA study is, of course, subject to the reuqirements of the Data Quality Act.

From: Bloomberg/BNA

By Amena H. Saiyid

Federal regulators may be able to assert Clean Water  Act jurisdiction over more waters and wetlands than are now protected  on the basis of a draft scientific study that links all streams  and certain  wetlands with larger, downstream navigable waters, attorneys and policy analysts say.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s draft study finds that all tributary streams, including perennial and the previously unprotected intermittent and ephemeral streams, are physically, chemically and biologically connected to downstream rivers.

From: PorkNetwork

[Pork Network] Editor’s Note: Gary H. Baise is an Illinois farmer and trial attorney at the law firm Olsson Frank Weeda Terman Matz PC, specializing in agricultural and environmental issues in state and federal court. He also serves as outside General Counsel for the U.S. Grains Council, Agricultural Retailers Association, National Association of Wheat Growers, National Sorghum Producers and counsel to the American Soybean Association.In the Legal Outlook blog, Baise will shed light on legal issues facing agriculture. Additionally, he will include his impressions on what these issues mean to producers.

From: Mother Jones

Who is affected when the government doesn’t show up for work? Poor people, people with immune systems…basically everyone.

By Tim Murphy

Update: The midnight deadline came and went without a deal from House Republicans and Senate Democrats (except for one small bill, on military pay). Welcome to the Shutdown.

The government will shut down at midnight unless President Obama and Congress can agree on a temporary resolution to continue funding federal agencies. (Spoiler: They probably won’t.)

Here’s a quick guide to who and what will be most affected: