March 6, 2009

Two senators Thursday (March 5) introduced a bill to try to prevent the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from charging farmers fees for the greenhouse gases emitted by livestock.

The EPA proposal, unveiled last year, would charge farmers for the methane coming out of their livestock, and the cost to producers would be substantial, according to a statement released by Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., one of the authors of the bill.

The American Farm Bureau Federation, Thune's release said, estimated the EPA proposal "would cost a medium sized dairy farm with 75 to 125 cows between US$13,000 and US$22,000 a year. It would cost a medium size cattle farm with 200 to 300 cows between US$17,000 and US$27,000."

The Farm Bureau, in its own statement released Thursday, said it was grateful to the authors of the bill, Sens. Thune and Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. The group said the EPA proposal would cost farmers US$175 for each dairy cow, US$87.50 for each beef cow and US$21.87 for each hog.

The EPA proposed "requiring farmers to purchase expensive permits," Thune said, who promised his bill would "ensure that the 'cow tax' never becomes a reality."

The bill introduced by Thune and Schumer seeks to amend the Clean Air Act by adding that "no permit shall be issued under a permit program under this title for any carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide, water vapour, or methane emissions resulting from biological processes associated with livestock production."

Thune said the EPA proposal, if it were ever to be implemented, would cost ranchers hundreds of millions of dollars each year.

"Cattle and dairy production is vital to the economy of South Dakota and to our nation," Thune said, "and in these difficult economic times, it would be disastrous to enact policies that would increase food prices for all Americans."