[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 155 (Friday, August 12, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-19806]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: August 12, 1994]


  
  
  
                                                   VOL. 59, NO. 155

                                            Friday, August 12, 1994

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Agricultural Marketing Service

7 CFR Part 1004

[DA-94-19]

 

Milk in the Middle Atlantic Marketing Area; Proposed Suspension 
of Certain Provisions of the Order

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, USDA.

ACTION: Proposed suspension of rule.

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SUMMARY: This document invites written comments on a proposal to 
suspend certain provisions of the Middle Atlantic Federal milk 
marketing order for the months of September 1994 through February 1995. 
The proposed suspension would reduce the percent of receipts that must 
be disposed of as Class I disposition by pool distributing plants, 
provide automatic pool plant status for supply plants and reserve 
processing plants that were pool plants during the months of September 
through February, and suspend the limit on the amount of milk that may 
be diverted to nonpool plants by cooperative associations and by pool 
plant operators. The suspension was requested by several Middle 
Atlantic cooperatives and handlers who contend that the suspension is 
necessary to assure that producer milk which has been historically 
associated with the market will continue to be pooled and priced under 
the order without incurring unnecessary and uneconomic movements solely 
for the purpose of maintaining pool status.

DATES: Comments are due no later than August 29, 1994.

ADDRESSES: Comments (two copies) should be filed with the USDA/AMS/
Dairy Division, Order Formulation Branch, Room 2971, South Building, 
P.O. Box 96456, Washington, DC 20090-6456.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gino M. Tosi, Marketing Specialist, 
USDA/AMS/Dairy Division, Order Formulation Branch, Room 2971, South 
Building, P.O. Box 96456, Washington, DC 20090-6456, (202) 690-1366.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 
601-612) requires the Agency to examine the impact of a proposed rule 
on small entities. Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 605(b), the Administrator of 
the Agricultural Marketing Service has certified that this proposed 
rule would not have a significant economic impact on a substantial 
number of small entities. This rule would lessen the regulatory impact 
of the order on certain milk handlers and would tend to ensure that 
dairy farmers would continue to have their milk priced under the order 
and thereby receive the benefits that accrue from such pricing.
    The Department is issuing this proposed rule in conformance with 
Executive Order 12866.
    This proposed rule has been reviewed under Executive Order 12778, 
Civil Justice Reform. This rule is not intended to have a retroactive 
effect. If adopted, this proposed rule will not preempt any state or 
local laws, regulations, or policies, unless they present an 
irreconcilable conflict with the rule.
    The Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937, as amended (7 
U.S.C. 601-674), provides that administrative proceedings must be 
exhausted before parties may file suit in court. Under section 
608c(15)(A) of the Act, any handler subject to an order may file with 
the Secretary a petition stating that the order, any provisions of the 
order, or any obligation imposed in connection with the order is not in 
accordance with law and request a modification of an order or to be 
exempted from the order. A handler is afforded the opportunity for a 
hearing on the petition. After a hearing, the Secretary would rule on 
the petition. The Act provides that the district court of the United 
States in any district in which the handler is an inhabitant, or has 
its principal place of business, has jurisdiction in equity to review 
the Secretary's ruling on the petition, provided a bill in equity is 
filed not later than 20 days after the date of the entry of the ruling.
    Notice is hereby given that, pursuant to the provisions of the 
Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act, the suspension of the following 
provisions of the order regulating the handling of milk in the Middle 
Atlantic marketing area is being considered for the months of September 
1, 1994, through February 28, 1995:
    1. In Sec. 1004.7(a), the words ``40 percent in the months of 
September through February, and'' and ``in the months of March through 
August,''.
    2. In Sec. 1004.7(e), the word ``immediately'' and the words ``for 
each of the following months of March through August,''.
    3. In the introductory text of Sec. 1004.12(d), the words ``in 
accordance with the conditions of paragraphs (d)(1) and (d)(2) of this 
section.''
    4. In Sec. 1004.12, paragraphs (d)(1) and (d)(2).
    All persons who want to submit written data, views or arguments 
about the proposed suspension should send two copies of their views to 
the USDA/AMS/Dairy Division, Order Formulation Branch, Room 2971, South 
Building, P.O. Box 96456, Washington, DC 20090-6456, by the 15th day 
after publication of this notice in the Federal Register.
    The period for filing comments is limited to 15 days because a 
longer period would not provide the time needed to complete the 
required procedures before the requested suspension is to be effective.
    All written submissions made pursuant to this notice will be made 
available for public inspection in the Dairy Division during regular 
business hours (7 CFR 1.27(b)).

Statement of Consideration

    The proposed suspension would reduce the total Class I disposition 
standard for pool distributing plants, provide automatic pool plant 
status for supply plants and reserve processing plants that were pool 
plants during each of the preceding months of September through 
February, and suspend the limit on the amount of milk that may be 
diverted to nonpool plants by cooperative associations and pool plant 
operators.
    The first provision proposed to be suspended would reduce the 
percentage of a distributing plant's receipts that would have to be 
disposed of as Class I milk to meet the order's pooling standards. As 
proposed, a pool distributing plant would have to use at least 30 
percent, rather than 40 percent, of its monthly milk receipts as Class 
I milk during September 1994 through February 1995.
    The second provision proposed to be suspended would permit supply 
plants and reserve processing plants that have met the order's pooling 
standards during the months of September 1993 through February 1994 to 
retain pool status for the months of September 1994 through August 
1995. The shipping requirements that normally would have applied to 
such plants during the months of September 1994 through February 1995 
would be eliminated under the proposed suspension.
    The third provision included in the proposed suspension would 
eliminate the limit on the percentage of milk that may be diverted to 
nonpool plants by a cooperative association or a pool plant operator 
for the period of September 1994 through February 1995.
    The proposed suspension was requested by Pennmarva Dairymen's 
Federation, Atlantic Dairy Processing, Inc., Dairylea, Eastern Milk 
Producers Cooperative, and Lehigh Valley Dairies. Together these 
organizations market over 90 percent of the market's producer milk.
    The proponents state that between 1991 and 1993 producer receipts 
on Order 4 increased while the percentage of the market's producer milk 
used for Class I purposes decreased. Proponents cited the consistently 
declining monthly Class I percentages for the months of September 
through February of 1991, 1992, and 1993 to support their request. They 
pointed out, for example, that the Class I use percentage for September 
1991 was 56.2, while in September 1993 it was 51.4 percent. The 
proponents claim that the reduction in Class I use results in an 
increase in diversions to nonpool plants, which makes it increasingly 
difficult for cooperatives and pool plant operators to maintain the 
pool status of the milk of producers who have historically been 
associated with the market.
    In further support of their suspension request, the proponents 
indicate that two large Order 4 distributing plants with which large 
volumes of Order 4 diverted milk had been associated became regulated 
under the New York-New Jersey order, another Order 4 distributing plant 
closed, and two additional Order 4 distributing plants have changed 
their product mix, causing a reduction of pool plant deliveries for the 
cooperative supplying milk to these plants. The proponents claim that 
they are experiencing difficulty associating all of their diverted 
producer milk with the remaining distributing plants now regulated 
under the Middle Atlantic order because the additional diverted milk is 
reducing the Class I use percentage of the plants from which it is 
diverted, thereby jeopardizing their status as pool plants.
    Thus the proponents state that the proposed suspension would have 
the effect of reducing uneconomic movements of milk solely for the 
purpose of meeting pool qualifications, and would reflect current 
marketing conditions without causing the milk of producers long 
associated with the market to become depooled.
    Accordingly, it may be appropriate to suspend the aforesaid 
provisions from September 1, 1994, through February 28, 1995.

List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 1004

    Milk marketing orders.

    The authority citation for 7 CFR Part 1004 continues to read as 
follows:

    Authority: Secs. 1-19, 48 Stat 31, as amended; 7 U.S.C. 601-674.

    Dated: August 8, 1994.
Lon Hatamiya,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 94-19806 Filed 8-11-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-02-P