US Ag Exports Hit $129.7 Billion for FY 2016

U.S. agricultural exports in Fiscal 2016 totaled $129.7 billion against imports of $113.11 billion for a trade surplus of $16.62 billion, according to USDA's U.S. Agricultural Trade Data update.September U.S. agricultural exports were valued at $11.1 billion with imports of $8.879 billion for a trade surplus of $2.2 billion. That marked the largest trade surplus since November 2015 when it was $3.5 billion. The export total was down slightly from August while imports slumped $539 million from August.Compared to Fiscal 2015, the value of U.S. agricultural exports in Fiscal 2016 declined by $10.02 billion while imports fell $1.13 billion resulting in a trade surplus that was down $8.89 billion.Based on USDA's latest forecast for Fiscal 2016, the import outlook was spot on at $113.1 billion while the export forecast was $2.7 billion too low.WOTUS Concerns Raised by Environmental GroupsEndangered, threatened species could be put at riskEndangered and threatened species may be at risk because the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) waters of the US (WOTUS) rule excludes large swaths of wetlands, ponds and ephemeral streams critical to their survival, environmental advocacy groups said in briefs filed in a case before the US Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.The allegation was raised by a coalition of environmental groups led by Waterkeeper Alliance. They contend the two agencies responsible for the rule, EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, failed to consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service regarding the potential impact on species.Federal agencies are required to consult under Section 7(a)(2) of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) if a proposed action "may affect" listed species or their critical habitat, the groups argued. The "may affect" threshold, they said, is low enough to apply to the WOTUS rule because it refers to "Any possible effect, whether beneficial, benign, adverse, or of an undetermined character" that triggers the formal consultation requirement."The breadth of the Rule, which establishes the framework for determining the jurisdictional status of every waterbody in the nation, strongly suggests that ESA consultation was required here," the groups added.One provision cited by the groups is the rule's 4,000-foot limit for determining whether a significant nexus exists between navigable waters and isolated ponds and wetlands, which they said is "arbitrary and capricious." They noted an April 2015 memo by Jennifer Moyer, regulatory programs chief for the corps, who said the application of the significant nexus test could remove as much as 10 percent of waters, mostly wetlands, that are currently jurisdictional under the statute.