The Energy Department is adopting tougher energy efficiency standards for commercial clothes washers (here). The new standards apply to any commercial clothes washers manufactured or imported on or after Jan. 1, 2018.
The Fish and Wildlife Service issued a final rule Dec. 12 listing the Rufa Red Knot as threatened (here). Effective Jan. 12, the agency will place new restrictions on the import and export of the shorebird, which is native to the Americas. The final rule also creates restrictions on the importation of the Asian Horseshoe Crab.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is listing five species of sawfish as endangered, in a final rule that takes effect Jan. 12. The listing places new import and export restrictions on narrow sawfish (Anoxypristis cuspidata), dwarf sawfish (Pristis clavata), largetooth sawfish (collectively Pristis pristis; formerly Pristis pristis, Pristis microdon, and Pristis perotteti), green sawfish (Pristis zijsron), and the non-U.S. DPS of smalltooth sawfish (Pristis pectinata).
The Obama administration is mulling over economic, and potentially militaristic, measures against Russia over that country’s recent violations of arms control treaties, two top Obama administration officials said in testimony for a House hearing on Dec. 10. The U.S. continues to accuse Russia of breaking the rules in the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty by testing a particular ground-launched cruise missile, but Russia refuses to acknowledge the violation, said Rose Gottemoeller, undersecretary of arms control and international security at the State Department, and Brian McKeon, principal deputy undersecretary for policy at the Defense Department.
The Obama administration should ensure duties on all tariff lines are reduced in a Trans-Pacific Partnership, said three prominent dairy producers in a Dec. 4 letter to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, while stopping short of calling for comprehensive elimination (here). The administration and a wide range of industry representatives have called for complete tariff elimination in the pact, but as the talks continue to move forward without any critical breakthrough, some analysts have said partial tariff elimination still can benefit the U.S. (see 14060404).
The Energy Department adopted new energy efficiency test procedures for commercial clothes washers, in a Dec. 3 final rule (here). The agency earlier this year proposed the changes (see 14021023) to clarify compliance dates for commercial washers and adopt a new testing procedure. Compliance with the new standards is required by March 7, 2015.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission will accept oral comments on its proposal for a new mandatory safety standard for recreational off-highway vehicles, the agency said in a notice (here). The oral comments will be included during a meeting at 10 a.m. on Jan. 7, it said. Requests to make oral presentations must be sent to the CPSC by Dec. 30, it said.
The Labor Department updated its list of goods it believes to have been produced by child labor or forced labor to add two new goods (alcoholic beverages and meat), and one new country (Yemen), the agency said in a notice (here). The full report, including the updated list and a discussion of the list’s context, scope, methodology, and limitations, as well as frequently asked questions and a bibliography of sources, is available on the DOL website (here).
An Oregon ballot initiative that would require labeling of genetically modified (GM) foods is headed for a recount after narrowly failing to pass on Election Day, according to press reports from Reuters (here). State Ballot Measure 92 failed by about 800 votes on Nov. 4 (here). But under Oregon law, any vote that is decided by 0.2% or less must be recounted, said a spokesman for Oregon’s Secretary of State. The recount will take place Dec. 2-12. If the result of the ballot measure changes, Oregon would require labeling of all GM foods sold in the state as “Genetically Engineered” beginning on Jan. 1, 2016, says a text of the measure included in Oregon’s 2014 voter guide (here). Oregon would join Vermont as the second state to require GM labeling. Vermont passed a law in April 2014 that requires labeling of GM foods by July 1, 2016 (see 14042523). Connecticut and Maine have similar laws on the books, but they only take effect if enough states require GM labeling. A bill to require GM labeling in California failed to pass in May (see 14053026).
The U.S. Energy Information Administration released a new crude oil import tool that will improve the ability for users to find and review data on the subject, the Department of Energy agency said (here). Among other features, "the tool allows users to sort and display crude oil imports in monthly or annual time series, by crude type (i.e., light, medium, heavy), country source, receiving terminal, processing company, processing facility," it said. The tool could also "be used to provide timely data during emergency response situations, including how much crude is imported through a given port, what types of imported crude enter that port, and which refineries are serviced by that port," it said. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, celebrated the release. “Our nation is importing record low levels of oil from the world’s volatile regions and exporting record volumes of all sorts of energy to our friends and allies,” Murkowski said (here). “This new tool is a welcome addition to the analytical arsenal at EIA.”