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 Office of Management and Budget approved on August 10, 2010 an Energy Department proposed rule regarding the International Code Council International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) with respect to energy efficiency for low-rise residential buildings.
The USDA's Radio News Service reports that a record rice crop could bring U.S. growers a somewhat lower price this next season, and that cotton growers could have an unusual marketing year coming up. They will harvest a much bigger crop and yet could get a higher price. USDA adds that a record crop, and strong demand for it, is expected for U.S. soybean growers in the next marketing year.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has issued a notice announcing that its Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee (MCSAC) will hold a three-day committee meeting concerning fatigue management of commercial motor vehicle (CMV) operators.
On August 12, 2010, the Agriculture Marketing Service issued "World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates" for wheat, coarse grains, rice, oilseeds, sugar, livestock, poultry, dairy, and cotton.
The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau has posted the 2010 version of its Wine Seminar Handout Packet.
The Census Bureau has issued an AES broadcast announcing that due to extremely high volume, filers may experience delays using the AESDirect system on August 13, 2010 and for the next couple of days and should expect delays receiving responses from the AES. The AESDirect support staff is working to secure additional temporary bandwidth and server capacity to handle the increase in load due to the outage on August 12, 2010. Filers using EDI, VPN or AESPcLink will see additional delays, as Census adjusts processing to handle the load. All Electronic Export Information received will be submitted to the AES and all responses from the AES will be processed. (Census advises that a Compliance Alert is triggered when the date of filing is after the date of export. This alert is automatically triggered by the AES and cannot be changed. AESDirect filers who receive a Compliance Alert for shipments exported under the Downtime Policy should keep a copy of the AES Downtime Broadcast, issued on 08/12/2010, along with the ITN(s).) AES broadcast #201044 available by emailing documents@brokerpower.com.
On August 13, 2010, the Census Bureau issued an AES broadcast announcing that the power has been restored to the primary datacenter for the AESDirect program and AESDirect is back on-line. All AESDirect program transactions for shipments that moved under the AES Downtime Policy must now be filed along with any new AES transactions. AES broadcast #201043 available by emailing documents@brokerpower.com.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control has issued its civil penalties enforcement information for August 13, 2010. Compass Bank remitted $607,500 to settle allegations of violations of the Sudanese Sanctions Regulations. Custom Polymers, Inc. agreed to remit $57,800 to settle an allegation of violation of the Sudanese Sanctions Regulations.
On August 11, 2010, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported that the Freight Transportation Services Index (TSI) rose 0.2 percent in June from its May level, rising after one monthly decline. The Freight TSI has risen 4.7 percent over the last 13 months, starting in June 2009, after declining 15.3 percent in the previous 10 months beginning in August 2008. The Freight TSI measures the month-to-month changes in freight shipments in ton-miles, which are then combined into one index. The index measures the output of the for-hire freight transportation industry and consists of data from for-hire trucking, rail, inland waterways, pipelines and air freight.