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Farm Bureau: Owning livestock shouldn’t require a greenhouse gas permit

Farmers need to contact lawmakers about this de facto tax

MADISON, WI(WFB news release) - The Wisconsin Farm Bureau wants to make sure that livestock farmers don't get saddled with costly clean air permits by default. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's proposed regulation of emissions from automobile tailpipes could inadvertently catch naturally-occurring methane from cows and pigs in the costly mix. 

The issue centers around the federal Clean Air Act's Title V, which requires any entity that emits more than 100 tons of a regulated pollutant per year to obtain a permit.

Although rulemaking is focused on the automobile industry, analysis done by the American Farm Bureau Federation, shows that dairy farms with 25 cows, beef farms with 50 steers, and hog farms with 200 pigs would meet the 100-tons-per-year emissions threshold. Without legislation that says otherwise, they could be required to get a Title V permit.

It would be the first time that production agriculture would be directly regulated under the Clean Air Act. While the EPA has publicly said this is not the agency's intention, the Farm Bureau is not taking any chances.   

The Farm Bureau is asking Wisconsin's Congressional delegation to co-sponsor legislation drafted to ensure that livestock farms would not need costly greenhouse gas permits.

The Farm Bureau is also urging farmers to contact their federally elected officials to express support for the bills to protect livestock agriculture from the de facto tax. The numbers for the bills are H.R. 1426 in the House, and S. 527 in the Senate.

USDA statistics indicate that the permit requirement would include 99 percent of milk production, more than 90 percent of beef production and more than 95 percent of all hog production in the United States.

AFBF indicates that the permit fee would vary from state to state, but for states using the EPA "presumptive minimum rate" this could amount to $175 per dairy cow, $87.50 per beef animal and over $20 per hog. AFBF's calculations are an extrapolation of comments by the USDA and readily available government data. 

"While the economic costs to producers from taxing livestock would be great, the environmental benefits intended from such regulation are speculative at best," read the Wisconsin Farm Bureau's letter to federal lawmakers.

The Clean Air Act is designed to regulate air pollutants that are local in nature and are emitted from sources that are easily ascertained.  These factors allow for effective regulation and pollution reduction because they are within control of the regulating agency. Greenhouse gases are much different because they are global in scope and distributed evenly across the planet.

Farm Bureau's letter also noted that most emissions of methane from cattle and hogs are from natural or biological processes, and the Clean Air Act is not the appropriate mechanism for regulating livestock emissions.