Senate Ag Chair reacts to Environment Committee's action on climate change

Farm and Ranch November 9, 2009 According to U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Blanche Lincoln, the Environment and Public Works Panel's 11 to 1 vote last week in favor of chairman Barbara Boxer's cap and trade climate legislation, with all seven Republican members absent, demonstrates the need for a more inclusive process going forward. Lincoln: "It hardly seems like a consensus and I think that is what is most important, that we work to find a consensus and we are going to continue to do that from the Agriculture Committee standpoint." Agriculture is among a handful of committees in the Senate with jurisdiction over climate change. Lincoln expressed her appreciation to Michigan Democrat Debbie Stabenow for introducing an agricultural offsets package, but stressed it does not go far enough. Lincoln: "You look at indirect land use. You look at the areas where carbon credits are already being traded for agriculture. We don't look at anything in there, I don't think, in term of the cost of food to consumers and there is nothing that talks about what happens to farmers in terms of their input costs. So I think there are just multiple more issues and I hear more and more of them everyday as I talk with the ag community." Lincoln says she plans to hold hearings on agriculture and climate issues but has not yet decided on a mark-up. The one Democratic no vote in the Environment Committee came from Montana Senator Max Baucus who said he couldn't support cutting greenhouse gases by 20 percent by the year 2020. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.