Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Legislation Introduced to Protect Livestock from Greenhouse Regulations

Former Secretary of Agriculture Senator Mike Johanns, R-Neb., has co-sponsored legislation that would protect animal agriculture from any greenhouse gas regulations put forth by the Environmental Protection Agency. Last Friday, EPA announced it had determined that greenhouse gases may endanger public health or welfare. The ruling faces a 60-day public comment period. Johanns says this EPA proposal could have devastating consequences to the livestock sector. "This 'cow tax' could cost farmers and ranchers tens of thousands of dollars per farm per year," he said. The proposed legislation would amend the Clean Air Act to preclude regulation of naturally occurring livestock emissions, including methane and carbon dioxide. If the EPA definition of air pollutants includes methane, USDA estimated that any agricultural operation of more than 25 dairy cows, 50 beef cattle, 200 hogs or 500 acres of corn would be subject to emission fees...Farm Futures

1 comment:

Daniel said...

Good for him! The agricultural sector should be safe from this psuedo-science nonsense. Cows are bad for the environment? Seriously? Or are they just saying that to make the taxpayer money they wasted seem justified?

In an interesting twist, I saw a video (http://www.newsy.com/videos/enviornmental_beef_over_cows/) that states that “Cows create almost 20 percent of the world’s greenhouse gases. Now that’s more than planes, trains and automobiles combined.” (originally from the Discovery Channel)

So maybe even artificial gas emissions aren't actually as bad as we're led to believe...