Whether or not the Health Affects Data is or is not public domain would depend very much upon how soybean checkoff dollars are classified.
Congress intiated the checkoff program, where a $0.05 tax (the "checkoff") per bushel is paid by the buyer of the beans. This money is in turn funneled to soybean interests with the purpose of promoting soy production and its consumption. The problem lays in the fact that the federally mandated "tax" is utilized by private concerns, not government institutions. So whether or not "government under the sunshine laws" apply is doubtful (enter lawyers, stage left). However, laws governing the use of public moneys might apply, assuming that checkoff dollars fall under the banner of "public monies" (enter more lawyers, stage right). What is evident is the fact that while the Soy Councils/National Biodiesel Board took measures to conduct the Health Affects studies, they are in reality none too thrilled with the aspect of having to shell out one or two million checkoff dollars that would have been spent elsewhere. As a result of their displeasure with this expense, they have in turn sought to be reimbursed via the membership fees and production tax scheme for those who access the Health Affects Data (HAD), either as members or non-members. As well, they have instituted the $100,000 bond that must be presented by non-members who desire access to the HAD, or members who drop out but continue to manufacture biodiesel for sale "in commerce." They do not put this money into an escrow account and only return the face value of the bond to the remitter in 2015 - presuming they have recovered all their checkoff dollars by that time. The remaining questions that deserve to be answered are, What if no one had ever heard of biodiesel and the Soy Councils had never expended the $1 or $2 million on Health Affects studies? They would have turned around and spent the same monies on other soy promoting endeavors. Would they have also sought reimbursement of these checkoff dollars over time as they are seeking relative to their biodiesel endeavors? One does have to ask if they have the legitimate right to expect reimbursement of spent checkoff dollars when expended in the very type of endeavor that the checkoff was created for in the first place. But the question of whether or not the checkoff dollars have a "public monies" taint that makes the HAD public domain remains the first issue at hand. There is bound to be an abundant number of professional legal minds who have worked in such an area, capable of giving a pretty secure legal opinion without much effort. Todd Swearingen ----- Original Message ----- From: Lee Sheppard <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <biofuels-biz@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Tuesday, July 23, 2002 6:51 PM Subject: Re: [biofuels-biz] Legal Obstacles for Biodiesel > Well if the process is public domain then any one can use it. It sounds > like the scam is Archer-Daniels-Midland holding the only certified test > sample by the EPA. The EPA also has know right to restrict use of public > domain information or processes. So do you have access to the > information that supports Archer-Daniels-Midland claim and the EPA's? > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > >I don't know much about the state laws or local bylaws, but here is the > >federal picture: The EPA requires registation of all fuel producers for > >non-standard fuels, that is including biodiesel. They also require testing of > >these fuels. They claim that even though federal funds were used to test the > >only sample that has been processed to date, they will not allow this public > >domain information to be used unless the user buys the rights from a company > >set up by Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. This company (the NBB) is supposed to be > >a non-profit, but they require usury fees for small producers, such that it > >will increase your costs by a dollar a gallon or so. The EPA says they will > >fine small producers up to $25,000 a day if they find your are putting > >biodiesel fuel into "commerce", meaning selling it or bartering it. The cost > >of testing a single sample is expected to be about $1,000,000, according to > >the EPA. The EPA says there are no further grants available for this testing > >costs. The EPA doen't care about issues like quality, ASTM testing, etc., but > >wants to see the receipt for the purchase of the rights to use the one > >sample. The NBB requires thoussands of dollars in fees per year, testing, and > >a signed committment to pay $100,000 within 30 days as a cash bond if you are > >late with your quarterly fees or are planning to get out of the business. The > >bond will be returned by the year 2015, without interest, if the NBB feels > >they have recovered sufficient return on their (grant sponsored) investment. > >Otherwise, they keep some or all of the bond. In other words, > >Archer-Daniels-Midland has this entire area sewed up and small producers > >should not apply. The EPA official says that I should never have started > >making biodiesel in the first place, and am subject to retroactive fines back > >to the day I first started paying the road tax. > > > >If you want to find out what to do about this, write back. > > > >Tom Leue > >Homestead Inc. > >Yellow Biodiesel > > > > > >Biofuels at Journey to Forever > >http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > >Biofuel at WebConX > >http://www.webconx.dns2go.com/2000/biofuel/biofuel.htm > >List messages are archived at the Info-Archive at NNYTech: > >http://archive.nnytech.net/ > >To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: > >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > > >Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> > Will You Find True Love? > Will You Meet the One? > Free Love Reading by phone! > http://us.click.yahoo.com/7dY7FD/R_ZEAA/Ey.GAA/9bTolB/TM > --------------------------------------------------------------- ------~-> > > Biofuels at Journey to Forever > http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > Biofuel at WebConX > http://www.webconx.dns2go.com/2000/biofuel/biofuel.htm > List messages are archived at the Info-Archive at NNYTech: > http://archive.nnytech.net/ > To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ > > > ------------------------ Yahoo! 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