Lawsuit

Could EPA Decision Signal The Beginning Of The End For DEF?

Thu, 31 Jul 2025 16:28:35 GMT

Mike Berdo has strong words to describe his ongoing experiences using machinery requiring DEF ( Diesel Exhaust Fluid ) on his southeast Iowa farm.

“It has been an absolute nightmare, at least for us. Mechanics make trip after trip to do little stuff that’s very expensive to fix,” said Berdo, who produces grain and beef cattle near Washington. “We had planting delays last spring … little stuff that came from it and just seemed like [an issue to deal with] day after day.”

The ongoing mechanical issues and costs are why Berdo said he is “all for” EPA rescinding the 2009 Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding. The Finding has enabled the agency to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under Section 202 of the Clean Air Act and, in recent years, and launch requirements such as the use of DEF systems in diesel-powered engines.

EPA Draws A Line In The Sand
On Tuesday, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin released a proposal to rescind the 2009 Finding.

If finalized, the proposal would remove all greenhouse gas standards for light-, medium- and heavy-duty vehicles and heavy-duty engines, EPA said in a follow-up press release .

The move would start with EPA’s first greenhouse gas standard set in 2010 for light-duty vehicles and those set in 2011 for medium-duty vehicles and heavy-duty vehicles and engines.

EPA said the proposal is expected to “save Americans $54 billion in costs annually through the repeal of all greenhouse gas standards, including the Biden EPA’s electric vehicle mandate, under conservative economic forecasts.”

Zeldin made the announcement to rescind the Finding in Indiana, alongside Energy Secretary Chris Wright, and called it the largest deregulatory action in U.S. history.

What The Decision Could Mean To Farmers
Specific to U.S. farmers, the proposal could potentially result in DEF systems no longer being included on new tractors and other heavy equipment using diesel-powered engines, said Chip Flory, host of AgriTalk, during a Farmer Forum discussion on Wednesday.

South Dakota farmer Ryan Wagner told Flory he has a wait-and-see perspective on how or whether the EPA proposal goes into effect. He anticipates that reversing the Finding will take considerable time and effort for EPA to implement.

“It took a long time with the interim engines and things to get into full DEF in the first place,” Wagner said. “I don’t know how long it would take to unwind all that and how quickly manufacturing will just take those systems right off, but it’ll be interesting to see what happens.”

To Wagner’s point, here’s a brief look back at some timing showing when DEF rolled out in agriculture and nonroad equipment and became mandatory . The regulations were phased in over several years based on the type of equipment and engine size:

2008: DEF became required for all new diesel engines with engine sizes over 750 horsepower.

2011: the regulations expanded to include equipment with engine sizes between 175-750 horsepower.

By 2015, all new nonroad diesel engines were required to be Tier 4 compliant and utilize DEF, regardless of equipment type or engine size.

As Wagner considers DEF, he noted its use in diesel engines has provided him with one benefit: “On the plus side, I do like that they don’t make the walls of my shop black. That’s been nice,” he said. “You can run them inside for a short time and not not feel like you’re breathing in a bunch of soot and making everything black.”

Expect Legal Challenges To EPA Decision
A number of environmental groups have already blasted the move by EPA, saying it spells the end of the road for U.S. action against climate change, according to an online article by Reuters .

Legal challenges from various environmental groups, states and lawyers are likely ahead.

That fact wasn’t lost on Flory and the Farmer Forum participants during the AgriTalk discussion on Wednesday.

“If this proposal is finalized, it’s going to start a lot of conversations … and the dominoes are going to start to fall, something that we need to keep track of, no doubt,” Flory said. You can hear the complete Farmer Forum discussion on AgriTalk here:

EPA will initiate a public comment period to solicit input. Further information on the public comment process and instructions for participation will be published in the Federal Register and on the EPA website .

Your next read: Right To Repair Granted? John Deere Launches Digital Self-Repair Tool for $195 Per Tractor

Nelson To Serve Life in Prison for Diemel Murders

Mon, 03 Oct 2022 17:02:38 GMT

A northwest Missouri man will serve two consecutive life sentences without possibility of parole after he pleaded guilty Friday to the 2019 murders of two Shawano County, Wisconsin, brothers.

Garland Nelson, 28, Braymer, MO, admitted to shooting Nicholas Diemel, 35, and Justin Diemel, 24, burning their bodies and hiding their remains, according to the Caldwell County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.

In exchange for his plea, charges of abandonment of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence, armed criminal action and tampering with a motor vehicle were dropped, the St. Joseph News-Press reported. One of Nelson’s defense attorneys said two years ago the state planned to seek the death penalty if his client was convicted of the killings.

“We are glad this matter has now been resolved. We are now assured that the person responsible for this heinous crime will never be out of prison,” Caldwell County Prosecuting Attorney Brady Kopek, who represented the state of Missouri in the case, said in a statement.

Prosecutors said Nelson had entered a business arrangement with Diemel Livestock of which Nick and Justin were principals. Nelson agreed to feed and pasture cattle and sell them on the Missouri farm owned by his mother. Nelson agreed to send the proceeds to Diemel’s Livestock.

The Diemels shipped several loads of cattle to Nelson between November 2018 and April 2019, and he allegedly sold, traded or killed the cattle without sending payment to the Diemel brothers. Prosecutors said Nelson “continued to fraudulently bill the Diemels for feed and yardage for cattle that had been sold, traded or had died.”

The indictment said Nelson “did not properly care for cattle due to incompetence, neglect, or maltreatment. Cattle entrusted to Nelson had high death rates dues to underfeeding, neglect, and/or maltreatment. Nelson fed cattle inadequately and poorly,” reads a statement from the prosecutor’s office. “For example, he dropped hay bales in a pasture for calves but did not remove the plastic covering so that calves ate the plastic and died. In another example, in December 2018, Nelson was entrusted with feeding and caring for 131 calves he co-owned with a Kansas farmer. On May 23, 2019, Nelson dropped off 35 calves at the co-owner’s farm in Kansas, apparently all that survived of the 131. Of the surviving 35 calves, many were emaciated and had ringworm. Some calves had their ears torn as though identifying ear tags had been removed.”

Nick Diemel continued to press Nelson for payment and sent no more cattle to him. The indictment states Nelson sent the Diemels a $215,936 bad check. His account had a balance of 21 cents at the time. Prosecutors say the check had been intentionally torn so it could not be cashed.

In an attempt to collect on the debt, the Diemel brothers traveled to Nelson’s farm near Braymer, Missouri, on July 21,2019. They were never seen again. When the brothers missed their flight back to Wisconsin their family reported them missing.

Prosecutors said Nelson shot the brothers and drove their pickup truck off of his farm. He told authorities he put the men’s bodies in 55-gallon barrels and burned them. Nelson told investigators he dumped the remains on a manure pile and hid the barrels on the property, about 70 miles northeast of Kansas City, Missouri.

The remains were later found in Missouri and in a livestock trailer in Lincoln County, Nebraska, that had been purchased in Missouri.

In 2020, the families of the victims reached a $2 million settlement in a wrongful death lawsuit filed against Nelson, his mother, Tomme Feil, and the family’s cattle business, J4S Enterprises.

At the time of the brothers’ deaths, Nelson was on parole after serving 17 months in federal prison for an October 2016 conviction for cattle and insurance fraud. Prosecutors said he sold more than 600 head of cattle that did not belong to him, causing more than $262,000 in losses.

ABC Settles Libel Case with BPI

Wed, 11 Nov 2020 02:07:25 GMT

ABC and South Dakota-based Beef Products Inc. (BPI) reached a settlement in a $1.9 billion libel lawsuit against the network regarding its reports on lean, finely textured beef (LFTB) -- deemed “pink slime” by critics and ABC. The terms of the settlement are confidential, but BPI had sued the network for $1.9 billion.

BPI argued ABC misled consumers into believing the product is unsafe, isn’t beef and isn’t nutrious, resulting in more than a 3 million-lb. drop in weekly sales.

ABC spokeswoman Julie Townsend said in a statement that the network maintains it reports accurately presented the facts, but said that “continued litigation of this case is not in the cimpany’s interests.”