[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 69 (Tuesday, April 11, 1995)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 18343-18344]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-8852]



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 Rules and Regulations
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  Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 69 / Tuesday, April 11, 1995 / Rules 
and Regulations  
[[Page 18343]]

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Agricultural Marketing Service

7 CFR Part 1050

[DA-95-14]


Milk in the Central Illinois 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 a portion of the producer milk 
definition of the Central Illinois Federal milk marketing order (Order 
50) for an indefinite period commencing with date of publication in the 
Federal Register. The suspension was requested by Prairie Farms Dairy, 
Inc., which contends the action is necessary to prevent uneconomic and 
inefficient movements of milk and to ensure that producer milk 
historically associated with Order 50 will continue to be pooled under 
the order.

EFFECTIVE DATE: April 11, 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 March 17, 1995; published 
March 23, 1995 (60 FR 15262).
    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 Central Illinois marketing area.
    Notice of proposed rulemaking was published in the Federal Register 
on March 23, 1995 (60 FR 15262), concerning a proposed suspension of 
certain provisions of the order. 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 for an indefinite period commencing with the 
date of publication in the Federal Register the following provision of 
the order does not tend to effectuate the declared policy of the Act:
    In Sec. 1050.13(d)(2), the words ``not'' and ``it'' where they 
first appear.

Statement of Consideration

    This rule suspends a portion of the producer milk definition under 
the Central Illinois order for an indefinite period of time, effective 
upon publication in the Federal Register. The suspension relaxes the 
diversion limits applicable to individual producers for a pool 
distributing plant regulated under the order. The aggregate limit of 35 
percent contained in the proviso of Sec. 1050.13(d)(2) was suspended 
for an indefinite period on January 1, 1995.
    The Central Illinois order currently allows an operator of a 
distributing plant to divert to a nonpool plant up to 50 percent of a 
producer's milk that is physically received at the pool plant during 
the months of August through April. The suspension will allow a 
distributing plant to divert an unlimited amount of a producer's milk 
to a nonpool plant during each of these months, provided that at least 
one day's production is physically received at a pool plant.
    Prairie Farms, which operates the only distributing plant regulated 
under Order 50, states that it represents over 90 percent of the 
producer milk pooled under Order 50. According to Prairie Farms, 
approximately 60 percent of its producer milk pooled under Order 50 was 
supplied to Beatrice Cheese, Inc., before Beatrice closed its cheese 
plant located in Preston, Iowa, effective December 1, 1994. It contends 
the suspension is necessary to permit it to keep its producers pooled 
under the order without the necessity of costly and inefficient 
movements of milk. It maintains that its proposal would not jeopardize 
the integrity of the order because at least one day's production would 
have to be physically received at a pool plant during each of the 
months of August through April to qualify the milk for diversion to a 
nonpool plant. Prairie Farms requests that the action be handled on an 
emergency basis to allow the continuous pooling of producer milk 
historically associated with Order 50.
    The suspension request should be granted. The suspension will 
continue to allow the market's Class I needs to be met by requiring at 
least one day's [[Page 18344]] production of a producer's milk be 
physically received at a distributing plant each month. It will 
maintain orderly marketing conditions and prevent uneconomic and 
inefficient movements of milk.
    Accordingly, it is appropriate to suspend the aforesaid provision 
for an indefinite period beginning with the date of Federal Register 
publication of this document.
    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 1050

    Milk marketing orders.

    For the reasons set forth in the preamble, the following provision 
in Title 7, Part 1050, is amended as follows:

PART 1050--MILK IN THE CENTRAL ILLINOIS MARKETING AREA

    1. The authority citation for 7 CFR Part 1050 continues to read as 
follows:

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


Sec. 1050.13  [Suspended in part]

    2. In Sec. 1050.13(d)(2), the words ``not'' and ``it'' where they 
first appear are suspended for an indefinite period effective upon 
publication in the Federal Register.

    Dated: April 5, 1995.
Patricia Jensen,
Acting Assistant Secretary, Marketing and Regulatory Programs.
[FR Doc. 95-8852 Filed 4-10-95; 8:45 am]
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