Environment

The Trump Administration on Friday finalized a rule narrowing the prohibition against "taking" endangered species by removing regulatory language allowing federal wildlife agencies to consider how species are harmed by habitat destruction.

The Environmental Protection Agency plans to stop requiring that diesel trucks automatically reduce power when their emissions exceed certain limits under a proposed rule that would also do away with a Biden-era plan to increase how long manufacturers must provide warranties for emissions equipment.

The Agriculture Department has agreed to enroll 2.2 million acres in the Conservation Reserve Program this year out of the 2.5 million acres offered by landowners under all three program signups. The National Corn Growers Association is calling for heightened transparency from agricultural input companies as it releases a new study that shows U.S. farmers paying substantially more for seeds and pesticides than their counterparts in Brazil. 

The stakes for farmers in the pending 45Z tax credit rules are high as financially struggling crop growers seek to tap expanding low-carbon fuel markets. 

Progress is being made toward voluntary goals to reduce nitrogen loads into the Mississippi River and Gulf of Mexico, but the “dead zone” in the Gulf is projected to be larger than average this year. 

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced long-awaited regenerative ag rules aimed at helping farmers fully benefit from biofuel markets. 

Discussion on the potential for Senate passage of an E15 bill swirled on Capitol Hill Tuesday after the release of a draft farm bill that doesn’t include the pro-ethanol measure. A bill to expedite Emergency Conservation Program payments to producers whose land has been damaged by wildfires cleared the House Tuesday with a 386-19 vote. It now heads to the president’s desk for his signature.

Two of the agriculture department's most popular conservation programs have struggled historically to keep pace with producer demand despite their billion-dollar budgets. But last year, the percentage of applications that won funding fell even further, according to a new analysis of Agriculture Department data by the Institute for Agricultural and Trade Policy, a think tank.