Colorado Governor Honors Program that Affects Every Coloradan

“Every citizen and every business has a direct financial interest in seeing that all transactions are fair to both the buyer and seller.” –Steve Bornmann

Governor Ritter has issued a proclamation heralding the Colorado Department of Agriculture’s consumer protection efforts; Colorado’s Weights and Measures Week is March 1-7, 2010.

“From weighing products at the grocery store to weighing coal trains, CDA’s Inspection and Consumer Services division affects almost every person in Colorado,” said Steve Bornmann, division director. “Our goal is to protect consumers and promote equity and integrity in the marketplace. The measurement standards programs and metrology laboratory play integral part in that goal.”

Inspectors and metrologists within the Measurement Standards program ensure the accuracy of scales, meters, and packaged products at supermarkets, warehouses, packing plants, storage facilities, and other retail stores through inspections. CDA’s Metrology Laboratory calibrates the standards used by the inspectors and licensed scale repair companies. Both protect the consumer and help ensure fairness in the marketplace.

“It is the responsibility of weights and measures officials to make tests of commercially used weighing and measuring devices and report their condition to the owners,” continued Bornmann. “If the devices are correct, they are approved and sealed. If incorrect, they are rejected for use until corrected.”

Scales and other measuring devices can become obsolete or out of adjustment just like any other mechanical equipment. Unlike many other devices, they continue to give quantity determinations, although incorrect, until they are tested, corrected, and replaced.

For more information on CDA Weights and Measures programs, visit www.colorado.gov/ag and click on “Measurement Standards” or “Metrology Laboratory.”

The proclamation states:

WHEREAS, The Colorado Department of Agriculture Weights and Measures Programs serve to meet the public need for uniform weights and measures in our state; and

WHEREAS, employees within the Weights and Measures Programs ensure all weighing and measuring devices used in commerce are accurate in both their design and operation; and,

WHEREAS, weights and measures activities have an annual estimated economic impact of more than $75 billion in Colorado; and,

WHEREAS, each year the first week in March is set aside as Weights and Measures Week to commemorate the nation’s first Weights and Measures Law – enacted on March 2, 1799 – and to raise public awareness of the importance of this law; and

WHEREAS, the State of Colorado recognizes the dedicated efforts of our state servants who ensure our weights and measures meet the national standard and encourages the public to learn more about this important service and the impact it has on their lives;

Therefore, I , Bill Ritter, Jr., Governor of the State of Colorado, do hereby proclaim March 1 – 7, 2010, WEIGHTS AND MEASURES WEEK in the State of Colorado.

Texas Dept. of Agriculture, Attorney General, Governor Challenge EPA’s Authority to Regulate Greenhouse Gases

AUSTIN - Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples today joined Attorney General Greg Abbott and Gov. Rick Perry in challenging the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) authority to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. The petition outlines how EPA has ignored major scientific conclusions, and questions the federal government decision to regulate greenhouse gas emissions based on fragile claims.

"EPA's move to regulate greenhouse gases would impose devastating rules on those Texans who fuel one of our state's largest economic sectors - farmers and ranchers," Commissioner Staples said. "As a regulatory agency, the Texas Department of Agriculture is required to impose rules based on sound science - not political science. Not only does state law require this, but it is also a fundamental principle by which regulators all across the U.S. have always lived. EPA has ignored extensive research on greenhouse gas emissions and based this significant regulation on faulty data."

Last December, EPA ruled that greenhouse gases were harmful to the environment, despite scientific evidence that suggests otherwise. Now the agency is planning to regulate greenhouse gas emissions through the Clean Air Act, which could mean costly mandates for farmers and ranchers.

Attorney General Abbott's legal challenge will focus on the inadequacies of the process EPA followed in triggering Clean Air Act regulation. Global climate change is an issue that requires careful analysis of all available data and options. EPA failed to perform the precise study required, and instead relied on flawed theories.

"Ninety-seven percent of land in Texas is privately owned, and more than 80 percent of land in the state is in some form of agricultural use," Commissioner Staples said. "Agriculture is a $106 billion industry in Texas, and as some of our state's first environmentalists, farmers and ranchers know they must take care of the land in order for it to take care of them. For centuries they have invested in science and research to ensure not only the preservation of our natural resources, but the availability of the safest, most affordable and most abundant food supply in the world."

Watch video from the press conference: