Thomas E. Petri: “I rise in support of H.R. 3153 which, through the hard work of Congressmen Tom Ewing and Steve Buyer, has been amended…”

“I rise in support of H.R. 3153 which, through the hard work of Congressmen Tom Ewing and Steve Buyer, has been amended to provide relief for farmers and agricultural drivers from the Department of Transportation's rulemaking of the transportation of hazardous materials. I want to thank the gentleman from Illinois, the gentleman from Indiana, the gentleman from Illinois, the gentleman from Wisconsin, and the gentleman from Pennsylvania for spearheading this important effort that will help protect farmers from unnecessary regulation. Unfortunately, neither could be present today due to long-standing prior commitments, but I believe they deserve our sincere thanks for moving this forward. I also want to thank Congressman Oberstar for being so helpful to the agricultural community. Their leadership on this issue has been extremely valuable. Absent substantial modifications, the HM-200 rulemaking presently being proposed by the U.S. DOT/Research and Special Programs Administration would supersede every State exception granted to the agriculture industry for transfer of agricultural production materials, such as fertilizers, and fuel from retail-to-farm and from farm-to-farm.”