Washington Insider -- Wednesday

By DTN's Washington Insider

Here's a quick monitor of Washington farm and trade policy issues from DTN's well-placed observer.

Oxfam: Food Aid Proposal Would Increase Program Costs

The international development group Oxfam America says a bill currently under consideration by a Senate committee would require that a minimum of 75% of U.S. food aid be carried on U.S.-flagged vessels, up from the current 50%. Shipping anything on a U.S.-flagged vessel is one of the more expensive ways to move cargo.

The proposed change appears in H.R. 4005 (the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act) that passed the House earlier this month. The bill has been referred to the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.

The publication Agri-Pulse reports that the Obama administration has come out against the provision and in a letter to committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.V., the Department of Homeland Security says the provision would have "grave effects on United States humanitarian assistance programs."

There for years has been a debate about whether U.S. food aid programs should provide the maximum assistance possible to hungry people overseas or to U.S. ship owners and merchant mariners. It is clear that adopting the proposed provision in H.R. 4005 would shift funding from food to ships. As a result, expect push back from Rockefeller's committee.

***

NTSU Issues Warning About Safety of Older Models of Rail Tanker Cars

With more oil and ethanol being moved around the country by rail, the National Transportation Board is warning railroads against an older model of tanker car for those types of hazardous cargoes.

Speaking Monday at an event in Washington, outgoing NTSB Chairwoman Deborah Hersman said the older model DOT-111 specification tank cars, the most widely used in the North American fleet, were not built to handle such shipments. Asked if the volume of such tank cars still in the rail fleet should be parked as unsafe, Hersman said: "Carrying corn oil is fine. Carrying crude oil is not…. These DOT-111s were not designed to carry hazardous liquids."

The United States is enjoying an oil production boom, but moving the increasing supply of petroleum to market is proving to be a major logistical problem. If older tanker cars are sidelined and new pipelines cannot be built in relatively short order, oil companies will turn increasingly to trucks to get their product to refineries. And since trucks are the most expensive way to move oil, higher prices almost certainly will be passed along to customers.

***

---

Want to keep up with events in Washington and elsewhere throughout the day? See DTN Top Stories, our frequently updated summary of news developments of interest to producers. You can find DTN Top Stories in DTN Ag News, which is on the Main Menu on classic DTN products, on the News Menu on Farm Dayta, and on the News and Analysis Menu of DTN's newest Professional and Producer products. DTN Top Stories is also on the home page and news home page of online.dtn.com.

If you have questions for DTN Washington Insider, please email edit@telventdtn.com

(ES)

Copyright 2014 DTN/The Progressive Farmer. All rights reserved.