Climate change debate heats up

Farm and Ranch April 22, 2009 An announcement about greenhouse gas emissions from the Environmental Protection Agency seems to have lit a fire under Congress to pass global warming legislation. The EPA issued a proposed finding that greenhouse gases may endanger public health or welfare. Krause: "The greenhouse gas and climate issues are the top issues right now in Congress. I think the EPA action has moved climate change up to the top of the pack." But American Farm Bureau Regulatory Specialist Rick Krause asks why there is such a rush when a multitude of potential consequences of either legislation or regulation haven't been addressed. Krause: "It's going to be a huge impact to agriculture. Not only is it going to increase fuel, fertilizer and energy costs, it also has implications for the ability of U.S. producers to compete in international markets." Krause says there are other problems with the language of proposed climate change legislation in Congress. Krause: "In this bill as it is written now it does not recognize agriculture and forestry offsets as a separate category. It leaves the definition of the categories to EPA for them to name. It also contains a very broad citizen suit provision which would allow any person to sue any entity based on emissions resulting in damages that they allege might occur as a result of climate change. This would be the first time that legislation would allow people to sue for damages for alleged climate change injuries." I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.