GHY Tradelines

span style=”font-size:85%;”(World Trade Interactive)/spanbr /br /The Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has issued an interim rule that, effective October 1, will increase by about 10% the fees charged for certain agricultural quarantine and inspection services provided in connection with certain commercial vessels, trucks, railroad cars and aircraft arriving at ports in the U.S. customs territory.br /br /APHIS states that while the recent downturn in the U.S. economy has negatively impacted user fee collections, inspection and related support services continue to be provided at their existing levels, so a fee increase is needed to meet expenses that have not decreased. Comments on the higher fees are due by November 27.br /br /• commercial vessels – $544, up from $494br /br /• commercial trucks – $6.00 for a single border crossing, up from $5.25, and $120 for a transponder, up from $105br /br /• commercial railroad cars – $8.75 per car, up from $7.75br /br /• commercial aircraft – $78.00 per aircraft, up from $70.50

span style=”font-size:85%;”(WaterWorld)br /br //spanThe Rural Utilities Service (RUS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued a nationwide waiver under the stimulus program’s “Buy American” clause for incidental components of eligible water infrastructure projects. This action permits the use of nondomestic iron, steel and manufactured goods when they occur in de minimis incidental components that may otherwise be prohibited under Buy American clause of theem American Recovery and Reinvestment Act/em of 2009.br /br /RUS defined “de minimis incidental components” to mean those components that cumulatively comprise no more than a total of 5% of the total cost of the materials used in a project funded in whole or in part with ARRA assistance.br /br /This action is similar to a waiver previously granted by the U.S. EPA for water infrastructure projects across the country.br /br /RUS received $1.38 billion in ARRA funds for use in providing loans and grants to rural communities to meet their water and wastewater infrastructure needs. While the money has been obligated to specific projects in compliance with the Fiscal Year 2009 deadline of September 30, it could be years before these projects actually are designed and go to construction.br /br /(Ed. a href=”http://www.blogger.com/www.waterworld.com/index.html”WaterWorld/a … Who knew?)