Heitkamp Statement on ELD Waiver Extension for Agriculture Transportation

Statement

U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp released the following statement after the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced it would further delay implementation of the new electronic logging device (ELD) rules for agriculture related transportation, after Heitkamp sent DOT Secretary Elaine Chao a letter earlier today requesting a delay and further clarification on exemptions and other provisions of the rule to protect rural North Dakotans.

"After I requested action from DOT earlier today, and raised this issue with Senate Leadership last fall, it's encouraging that the administration has taken additional steps to alleviate the concerns our agriculture transporters have with the new ELD rule," Heitkamp said. "Moving forward, DOT must continue to engage with members of the agriculture community, provide concrete guidance for recreational horse enthusiasts, and present workable guidelines to protect perishable food grown in North Dakota to protect our rural economy."

In a letter earlier today, Heitkamp urged Secretary Chao to immediately address several serious concerns about the new ELD rules.

"In North Dakota, ranchers and recreational rodeo enthusiasts alike depend on our nation's highways to move livestock to market and participate in rodeos across the region," Heitkamp wrote in her letter to Secretary Chao. "As this rule has been implemented though, I have grown concerned about the lack of input agricultural and rural stakeholder groups have been able to provide during the rulemaking process, which has created considerable uncertainty in the application of the rule to these agricultural and recreational uses."

In December, Heitkamp led a bipartisan effort to delay implementation of the new ELD regulations, joining U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS) and others supporting a provision in the U.S. House-passed Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) appropriations bill delaying implementation of ELDs and providing the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) time to make the necessary adjustments to hours of service rules.

Heitkamp has been fighting for livestock and honey bee producers, especially as they continue to face the effects of a severe drought. Last month, Heitkamp's plan to remove the funding cap for the Emergency Livestock Assistance Program (ELAP), which provides financial assistance to producers of livestock and honeybees for losses due to weather events and disease, was signed in to law.

Heitkamp has introduced legislation to expand assistance available to livestock and honey bee producers as they recover from drought. Last August, Heitkamp conducted a two-day drought and Farm Bill tour across western North Dakota to hear directly from farmers, ranchers, researchers, and FSA workers about the solutions they need now to weather the drought, and the critical programs that need to be protected and strengthened in the 2018 Farm Bill. The tour built on a listening session Heitkamp convened in July with ranchers, local leaders, and experts on the ground in Bowman to talk about solutions to address challenges they currently face related to the drought, and discuss how to best prepare down the road.

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