Debates Grow in WOTUS; Mexico to Decide on Restrictions on U.S. Meat Products

During a nomination hearing for Jeffrey Prieto - President Obama’s nominee to be the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s General Counsel, Senate Ag Chair Pat Roberts said the proposed Waters of the U.S. rule would harm U.S. agriculture. Roberts also told Prieto he believes EPA broke federal law when it influenced the outcome of the public comment period on the rule. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy told Congress in March that more than 87-percent of the 1-million public comments received supported the WOTUS rule - but Roberts thinks she was bending the truth - as the Committee heard from farmers and ranchers across the U.S. who said WOTUS was the wrong approach and rule for rural America and small communities.

Reuters reports Mexico announced last week it would decide within 15-days what sanctions to impose on U.S. meat products if Congress doesn’t comply with the World Trade Organization’s ruling on Country-of-Origin Labeling. Mexico Agriculture Minister Enrique Martinez says specialists in international law are ready and waiting to see what Congress does.