To amend the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to improve the administration of Farmers Home Administration loans, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES Mr. CONRAD introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry A BILL To amend the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to improve the administration of Farmers Home Administration loans, and for other purposes. 1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 3 SECTION 1. FARMERS HOME ADMINISTRATION. 4 The Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 5 U.S.C. 1921 et seq.) is amended— 6 7 8 9 10 (1) in section 331(d) (7 U.S.C. 1981(d)) by striking out "The Secretary" and inserting in lieu thereof "Subject to section 331D, the Secretary”; and (2) by inserting after section 331C (7 U.S.C. 1981C) the following new section: 2 1 “SEC. 331D. DEBT SETTLEMENT. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 "(a) SETTLEMENT DETERMINATION. "(1) VALUE TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. In determining whether to take action under subsection (d) of section 331 (hereinafter in this section referred to as 'settlement') the Secretary shall calculate the value that the Federal government would expect to realize through liquidation of property used to secure the loan or through a bankruptcy proceeding. “(2) COSTS INCLUDED.—In determining the value to the Federal government under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall consider the costs of recovery, manage ment, and disposition of the property used to secure the loan. “(3) LIQUIDATION NOT REQUIRED.-The Secretary shall not require the liquidation of property securing a loan under this title as a condition of entering any settlement under section 331 if, through settle19 ment, the Secretary will realize at least the value cal "(4) CONDITIONS OF SETTLEMENT.-The Secre tary shall not require that the outstanding amount of a loan be due and payable, under the terms of the note or as a result of acceleration, as a condition of settle ment under this section. “(5) WRITING DOWN DEBT.— 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 3 "(A) AUTHORITY.-In any case in which a borrower is determined to be delinquent in the payment of principal or interest, or both, due on a loan, (including loans made by a Federal or State chartered bank, savings and loan association, cooperative lending agency, or other legally organized lending agency that has been guaranteed by the Secretary under this title), the Secretary shall write down the outstanding debt on the loan to the current market value, if the Federal govern ment could expect to realize less than the amount of the outstanding debt through liquidation of the property used to secure the loan or through bankruptcy proceedings, as calculated under paragraph (1). "(B) POWERS OF SECRETARY.-The Secretary may pursue to final collection, by way of compromise or otherwise, all claims against third parties assigned to the Secretary in connection with loans made, including the power "(i) to negotiate a guaranteed loan with a lending institution to enable the Secretary to honor a portion of a guarantee and avoid foreclosure; and 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 4 "(ii) to purchase a guaranteed loan in its entirety from a lending institution. and thereby permit loan servicing by the Secre tary under the authority of the Secretary. "(b) LOAN SERVICING. "(1) DEFINITION. As used in this section, the term 'loan servicing' includes all activities associated with the management, administration, foreclosure, or liquidation of a loan made under this title. "(2) SETTLEMENT AUTHORITY.-Settlement authority under this section shall be considered to be a form of loan servicing in conjunction with the reamortization, rescheduling, consolidation, or deferral with limited interest rates of the loan, to the extent neces sary for a borrower to repay the loan. "(c) NOTICE.-The Secretary shall provide written 17 notice of the provisions of this section, and any regulations 18 promulgated under this section 19 20 21 22 23 24 "(1) to any borrower who becomes delinquent on any loan made or insured under this title; "(2) to any borrower who requests the notice; and "(3) to any borrower who holds a loan that the Secretary intends to liquidate, accelerate, or foreclose on. Mr. Dexter Gunderson at Section XII appears to conceal the opposition of rural residents to the proposed facility by obfuscation or outright falsehood. First, the sale of the Unitram property is not common knowledge in the area. CMC's permit is for a different piece of land, not for the Unitram property. Second, objections to the CMC operation have been filed with the South Dakota Department of Natural Resources since the permitting hearings. These objections include allegations of permit violations (see B. below), which include use of some portions of the Unitram property not covered under the permit. In this letter, we also allege violations of FmHA's regulations governing environmental review (see C. below). B. CMC is violating the Resource Recovery Permit issued by the State of South Dakota. On March 31 the Technical Information Project and Ruth Kern, • rancher C. CMC is violating FmHA's requirement that prospective applicants し CHIC has violated and continues to violate the FHA's requirement that prospective applicants not undertake actions with respect to the proposed undertakins which are the subject of the application (see 1940.309). CMC is using the Unitram property to unload, and perhaps to store, sludge ash as they have proposed in the application to FinHA. We ask FmHA to investigate these illegal activities and to cite CMC for their violations of FmHA environmental regulation. D. The EA does not adequately assess cumulative impacts of the proposed sludge ash facility. The EA fails to address the cumulative impacts of the proposed facility, especially the impact of a larger-scale operation taking in hazardous ash. The EA indicates (Section II) that waste streams other thin the |