Donald "Doc" Sanders has been the Wright Family Veterinarian and friend since 1968. He has traveled the world as a dairy consultant to the World Bank, trained veterinarians, dairy farm managers and their staff in China, Japan, South Korea, Russia, Ukraine, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Colombia, and Nicaragua. He manages his 750 acres of prime crop land in the Mad River Valley in Champaign County of West Central Ohio. He is retired from practice now, but his service to the farmers and the agriculture industry continues in many forms, one of which is a monthly column for Ohio’s Country Journal.
In the following article, he explains why there has been no decision on the 45Z Tax Credit Biofuel guidelines, which Congress intended to take effect on January 1st. That will not happen, and Doc explains why in this article published in the November issue of Ohio’s Country Journal.
The Chevron Doctrine By Don “Doc” Sanders, DVM
You may have heard of Chevron, the huge oil and gas company and probably one of the biggest oil producers in the world. But you may not have not heard of the “Chevron deference” justified by congressional agencies. This became an unspoken government policy some 40 years ago.
Here is the unspoken protocol. Congress would legislate a new, ambiguous bill to “fix” an issue. The enacted law was then passed to one of the agencies such as the FDA, EPA, USDA, or if there wasn’t a specific agency, a new one was formed. The purpose was to formulate government policy using the new law.
An example is when President Jimmy Carter formed the Department of Energy in 1977. Reportedly it was to plan strategies to conserve energy and develop alternative energy sources. I will let readers form their own opinions in this time of shifting energy strategies. Yet 40 some years later, it almost all falls back on using fossil fuels. Let’s face it. Windmills and solar panels aren’t the long-term solution.
The “Chevron deference” was Congress’ passing the buck to a government entity so they could skip their legislative responsibilities having often passed a poorly thought-out political hot potato to regulate a business, agricultural, or public entity. In essence, legislation often had not been spelled out adequately or it was passed to satisfy a Congressional constituency.