01/28/05 No date yet; U.S. surpassed

When new U.S.D.A. Secretary Mike Johanns said he would get right on the matter of reopening the Japanese market to U.S. beef, he was not kidding. His first official day on the job was Monday. Wednesday, Johanns spent about a half hour discussing the issue with the Japanese Ambassador to the U.S. Not that this inaugural meeting was productive. Johanns admits the Ambassador was not willing to set a date on when Japan will once again accept U.S. beef products. However, the Ambassador did say his nation is willing to work with U.S. to resolve the matter in a timely fashion. And on a side note, a complimentary issue not discussed between Johanns and the Japanese Ambassador was the proposed reopening of the U.S. border to Canadian beef and live cattle. This fact may add to the U.S. desire to reopen the Japanese market to our beef, and get more U.S. commodities into Japan. For the first time ever, the U.S. is not, repeat NOT, Japan's largest trade partner. In 2004, both China and Hong Kong surpassed the U.S. as Japan's top trade partners. Both those nations accounted for a total of 214 billion dollars of exports to and imports from Japan. The U.S. last year traded a little over 200 billion dollars in goods with Japan. Now granted the trade numbers include consumer goods such as electronics, but it does raise a level of concern among some U.S. trade analysts. Supporters of agriculture, and in particular the crop protection industry, are giving the Environmental Protection Agency applause for its recent rule proposal that should end confusion over which or both permits to obtain for use of pesticides. E.P.A.'s proposed rule would affirm that pesticide applications in compliance with the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act protect public health and the environment, and therefore would not require an additional National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit under the federal Clean Water Act. Salvage harvest of timber damaged in the 2002 Biscuit Fire in Southern Oregon can continue. So says U.S. District Court Judge Michael Hogan who has denied a request by environmentalist to halt the logging. Hogan stated in his ruling this week that he would defer expertise on whether or not, and how many, trees would be left standing to protect streams and riparian environment to the U.S. Forest Service. In addition, Hogan ruled the claims brought forth by the Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics were not serious, and in all likelihood, the group would not win at trial.