NMPF Statement on House Climate Change Bill

Release date: June 25, 2009
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Climate_change_bill_062509.pdf

The following statement was issued by Jerry Kozak, President and CEO of the National Milk Producers Federation, in response to the pending Waxman-Markey legislation the House of Representatives is expected to vote on Friday:
 
“NMPF and its members continue to have serious concerns about the potential impact on dairy farmers of the proposed climate change legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but we are grateful for, and supportive of, the hard work that Rep. Collin Peterson (D-MN) and other rural lawmakers have put into the legislation. Until now, it wasn’t clear that dairy farms would even be able to produce greenhouse gas offsets from which they could profit under a cap and trade system of carbon regulation.
 
The agreement brokered yesterday by Peterson and the Energy and Commerce Committee leaders includes three critical points that NMPF had pushed for in the legislation:
  1. It allows the U.S. Department of Agriculture to be the regulatory body responsible for establishing the terms governing how farming operations could create offsets under a cap and trade scenario;
  2. It allows those that already have manure digesters to participate in the offset program, regardless of when they installed their digester, or how it was funded. Any reductions in greenhouse gases from digesters would be considered additional reductions under the legislation;
  3. Beyond digesters, the legislation would allow for a wide variety of practices to be considered offsets, such as reduced tillage practices, nitrogen efficiencies, and changes in livestock diets that reduce methane.
What’s clear now is that congressional leaders realize that agriculture has a great deal riding on the outcome of this historic legislation. What’s not clear is the final form of the legislation, particularly since the Senate must also create a similar bill. We’re a long way from knowing how this will play out, but we will continue to be sure that the concerns of dairy farmers are recognized in the legislative process.”


The National Milk Producers Federation, based in Arlington, VA, develops and carries out policies that advance the well being of dairy producers and the cooperatives they own. The members of NMPF’s 31 cooperatives produce the majority of the U.S. milk supply, making NMPF the voice of more than 40,000 dairy producers on Capitol Hill and with government agencies.

Submitted by Sarah on Thu, 06/25/2009 - 14:46.