[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 2 (Wednesday, January 4, 1995)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 319-320]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-156]



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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Agricultural Marketing Service

7 CFR Part 1005

[DA-95-05]


Milk in the Carolina Marketing Area; Suspension of Certain 
Provisions of the Order

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, USDA.

ACTION: Suspension of rule.

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SUMMARY: This document suspends for a cooperative association the 
diversion limitation of the Carolina Federal milk marketing order 
(Order 5) for the months of January and February 1995. The suspension 
was requested by Carolina Virginia Milk Producers Association. The 
cooperative association contends the action is necessary to maintain 
orderly marketing conditions and ensure that the milk of its member 
producers will continue to be pooled during these months.

EFFECTIVE DATE: January 1, 1995, through February 28, 1995.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Nicholas Memoli, Marketing Specialist, 
USDA/AMS/Dairy Division, Order Formulation Branch, Room 2971, South 
Building, P.O. Box 96456, Washington, DC 20090-6456, (202) 690-1932.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Prior document in this proceeding:
    Notice of Proposed Suspension: Issued November 21, 1994; published 
November 25, 1994 (59 FR 60571).
    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 rule will not have a 
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. 
This rule lessens the regulatory impact of the order on certain milk 
handlers and tends to ensure that dairy farmers will continue to have 
their milk priced under the order and thereby receive the benefits that 
accrue from such pricing.
    The Department is issuing this final rule in conformance with 
Executive Order 12866.
    This final rule has been reviewed under Executive Order 12778, 
Civil Justice Reform. This rule is not intended to have a retroactive 
effect. This rule will not preempt any state or local laws, 
regulations, or policies, unless they present an irreconcilable 
conflict with this 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 the law and requesting 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.
    This order of suspension is issued pursuant to the provisions of 
the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act and of the order regulating 
the handling of milk in the Carolina marketing area.
    Notice of proposed rulemaking was published in the Federal Register 
on November 25, 1994 (59 FR 60571), concerning the proposed suspension 
of the diversion limitation for cooperative associations under Order 5. 
Interested persons were afforded opportunity to file written data, 
views and arguments thereon. No comments were received.
    After consideration of all relevant material, including the 
proposal in the notice and other available information, it is hereby 
found and determined that [[Page 320]] for the period of January 1, 
1995, through February 28, 1995, the following provision of the order 
does not tend to effectuate the declared policy of the Act:
    In Sec. 1005.13(d)(2), the words ``and January and February''.

Statement of Consideration

    This rule suspends the 25 percent diversion limitation for a 
cooperative association for the months of January and February.
    It allows a cooperative association to divert an unlimited quantity 
of each member producer's milk to nonpool plants if at least six days' 
production was delivered to a pool plant during the month. The Carolina 
order requires that during each of the months of July through November, 
January, and February, the total quantity of milk diverted to nonpool 
plants by a cooperative association not exceed 25 percent of the 
producer milk that such cooperative caused to be delivered to or 
diverted from such pool plants.
    Carolina Virginia Milk Producers Association, a cooperative 
association with member producers pooled on the Alabama (Order 93), 
Georgia (Order 7), Tennessee Valley (Order 11), and Carolina (Order 5) 
Federal milk marketing orders, indicates that effective August 1, 1994, 
it lost Class I sales with a handler regulated under Order 7. The 
cooperative then gained Class I sales with a handler regulated under 
Order 5 effective October 1, 1994, and shifted the producer milk supply 
formerly associated with the Order 7 handler to Order 5. This 
realignment resulted in additional producer milk delivered to Carolina 
handlers during the summer and fall months of 1994.
    The cooperative states that it is the balancing agent for its Class 
I customers under Order 5 for their weekly and seasonal milk supply. It 
asserts that the proposed suspension is necessary to accommodate 
pooling the anticipated production of its member producers during these 
months.
    It is appropriate to suspend the aforesaid provision for the period 
of January 1, 1995, through February 28, 1995. The suspension will 
prevent the uneconomic and inefficient movement of producers' milk and 
allow producers to continue to have their milk priced and pooled under 
an order during these months. Thus, the Class I needs of the Carolina 
order should still be met.
    It is hereby found and determined that thirty days' notice of the 
effective date hereof is impractical, unnecessary and contrary to the 
public interest in that:
    (a) The suspension is necessary to reflect current marketing 
conditions and to assure orderly marketing conditions in the marketing 
area, in that such rule is necessary to permit the continued pooling of 
the milk of dairy farmers who have historically supplied the market 
without the need for making costly and inefficient movements of milk;
    (b) This suspension does not require of persons affected 
substantial or extensive preparation prior to the effective date; and
    (c) Notice of proposed rulemaking was given interested parties and 
they were afforded opportunity to file written data, views or arguments 
concerning this suspension. No comments were received.
    Therefore, good cause exists for making this order effective less 
than 30 days from the date of publication in the Federal Register.

List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 1005

    Milk marketing orders.

    For the reasons set forth in the preamble, the following provision 
in Title 7, Part 1005, is amended as follows:

PART 1005--MILK IN THE CAROLINA MARKETING AREA

    1. The authority citation for 7 CFR Part 1005 continues to read as 
follows:

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


Sec. 1005.13  [Suspended in part]

    2. In Sec. 1005.13(d)(2), the words ``and January and February'', 
are suspended for the period of January 1, 1995, through February 28, 
1995.

    Dated: December 23, 1994.
Patricia Jensen,
Acting Assistant Secretary, Marketing and Regulatory Programs.
[FR Doc. 95-156 Filed 1-3-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-02-P