The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has submitted a proposed rule to the Office of Management and Budget on Commercial Medium- and Heavy-Duty On-Highway Vehicles and Work Truck Fuel Efficiency Standards.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announces a phone meeting of the Unified Carrier Registration Plan Board of Directors on September 9 , 2010 to continue its work in developing and implementing the Unified Carrier Registration Plan and Agreement.
USDA's Radio News Service reports that most analysts do not see any major problems in supplying the wheat market with enough wheat, despite shortfalls in some production areas. Moreover, U.S. wheat growers will get a bit of a windfall from the problems Black Sea area producers are having this year.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Commodity Credit Corporation is amending a previous final rule that implemented the 2008 Farm Bill provisions for the cotton program to remove definitions that are no longer used concerning Northern Europe prices for cotton, clarifying changes to the regulations for the cotton program and for CCC-approved warehouses, etc.
The Food Safety and Inspection Service has made available the draft U.S. positions that will be discussed at the 19th session of the Codex1 Committee on Residues of Veterinary Drugs in Foods that will take place in Vermont on August 30 -- September 3, 2010.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced on August 16, 2010 the opening of a new plant inspection station for imported plants in Miami, Fla. APHIS states that Miami is the busiest plant inspection location in the U.S., handling 78.5 percent of all propagative plant material imported in 2009. The original facility was no longer able to handle the volume of plant materials received at the Miami port on a daily basis.
The Foreign Agriculture Service issued the following GAIN reports:
Various U.S. government agencies are seeking comments on the following information collections for which they have requested or intend to request Office of Management and Budget approval or extension of approval (see notices for specific details):
The Fish and Wildlife Service has issued a final rule, effective September 16, 2010, implementing endangered status for three species of birds from Latin America and the Caribbean -- the Andean flamingo (Phoenicoparrus andinus), the Chilean woodstar (Eulidia yarrellii), and the St. Lucia forest thrush (Cichlherminia lherminieri sanctaeluciae) -- under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended, which prohibits the take, import, export, transport, sale, etc. of these species.
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced on August 11, 2010, the opening of the Haiti Apparel Center. USAID states that the new facility will help Haiti grow its private sector workforce by training more than 2,000 professionals per year to help meet the need for skilled workers in Haiti's garment industry. In addition to providing vocational training, the center will further enable Haiti to maximize the benefits of the Haitian Economic Lift Program (HELP) Act signed into law in May 2010, which improves U.S. market access for Haitian apparel exports.