[Pollinator] CSP, CIG and EPA air consent agreement announcements

[Ladadams@aol.com]

2006 CSP Sign-Up Announced:  
On Jan. 31, Ag Secretary Johanns announced that the 2006 Conservation 
Security Program (CSP) sign-up will be held Feb. 13, 2006 to March 31, 
2006 in 60 watersheds nationwide. 

USDA announced preliminary selection of 110 watersheds for fiscal year 
2006 based on the President's budget request. Based on available 
funding, CSP will be offered in 60 watersheds across all 50 states, the 
Caribbean and Guam. The sign-up will only include those producers who do 
not have an existing CSP contract. 

To be eligible for CSP, most of a producer's agricultural operation must 
fall within the boundaries of a selected watershed. Applications which 
meet CSP's minimum requirements as set forth in the amendment to the 
Interim Final Rule published in the Federal Register March 25, 2005, 
will be placed in enrollment categories. The CSP amendment to the 
Interim Final Rule is available for viewing at: 
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/csp/. 

This is the 3rd CSP sign-up. During the 2004 and 2005 sign ups, farmers 
enrolled nearly 11 million acres in the 220 eligible watersheds. 

*******************************************************

2006 CIG Program Announced:

CIG has two competitions available in fiscal year 2006--National and 
State. The announcement for program funding for the National competition 
is below. Each State administering a CIG competition will announce 
funding availability through separate requests for proposals. The 
deadline for proposals for the national competition is March 20, 2006.

·    Natural Resource Concerns component--Up to $10 million available for 
proposals addressing one or more of the CIG natural resource concerns. 
This component was also offered in 2004 and 2005. 
·    Chesapeake Bay Watershed component--Up to $5 million available for 
proposals addressing one or more of the CIG natural resource concerns in 
the Chesapeake Bay watershed.  This component was also offered in 2005. 
·    Technology component--Up to $5 million available for proposals 
addressing one or more of the CIG technology or approach categories.  
This component is new in 2006. 

For more information, visit 
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/cig/index.html

********************************************************************

EPA Announces First Air Compliance Agreements with Animal Feeding 
Operations: 

>From EPA:
Contact:  Dave Ryan, 202-564-4355 / ryan.dave at epa.gov 

On Jan. 30, EPA's Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) approved the first 
20 Air compliance agreements for animal feeding operations (AFOs). Under 
these agreements, the AFOs will participate in a nationwide project to 
evaluate the air emissions from animal feeding operations and use this 
data to develop an effective regulatory program.  EPA also is settling 
liability for certain past violations against AFOs. 

Key to the agreements is an EPA-approved monitoring and research study 
conducted by independent researchers. The goal of the study, expected to 
begin later this year, is to provide the agency with better air 
emissions science and data that can be used to develop a sound, 
reasonable and effective air emissions regulatory program.  EPA will use 
data it gathers to develop emission estimates for farms that can be 
applied nationwide. EPA also may develop new compliance standards, 
guidelines and enforcement policies. 

In the Jan. 31, 2005 Federal Register, EPA offered AFOs an opportunity 
to sign a voluntary consent agreement and final order to resolve 
potential violations of the Clean Air Act (CAA), the Comprehensive 
Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA)also 
known as Superfund, and the Emergency Planning and Community Right to 
Know Act (EPCRA).  Ultimately, 2,681 AFOs, representing more than 6,700 
farms in 42 states, signed up to participate in the voluntary agreement 
by the Aug. 12, 2005 deadline. 

The 20 agreements announced today were submitted to the EAB on Nov. 9, 
2005, and consisted of 10 swine-raising operations and 10 operations 
that raise egg-laying birds.  The EAB determined that the agreements 
were consistent with applicable statues and regulations under the 
federal Clean Air Act (CAA), including penalty provisions. 

EPA is evaluating the remaining agreements and plans to send those 
satisfying the requirements for participation to the EAB for approval as 
soon as possible. 

Based on its evaluation of the agreements thus far, EPA has determined 
that enough dairies, swine farms, egg-laying operations, and meat-bird 
operations have signed up to provide a representative sample for the 
monitoring program.  However, EPA has not yet determined whether there 
are enough turkey operations for a representative sample. A nonprofit 
entity will contract with an independent monitoring contractor (IMC) to 
implement the monitoring study.  The IMC must submit a detailed plan to 
EPA for review within 60 days of the respondent's receipt of the 
executed agreement.  EPA will then have 30 days to review and approve or 
disapprove of the plan.


Suzy Friedman
Center for Conservation Incentives at Environmental Defense
Staff Scientist/Ag Policy Analyst
sfriedman at environmentaldefense.org
http://www.environmentaldefense.org

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Laurie Davies Adams
Executive Director
Coevolution Institute
423 Washington St. 5th
San Francisco, CA 94111
415 362 1137
www.coevolution.org
www.nappc.org

Our future flies on the wings of pollinators.
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