Acting On Climate Change & No Farm Bill Extension

Acting On Climate Change & No Farm Bill Extension plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

The President's comprehensive climate change plan, if enacted, will affect every sector of the economy and every area of the country. He says his climate change plan includes working with local communities to protect power and water systems and also wetlands.

OBAMA: What we’ve learned from Hurricane Sandy and other disasters is that we’ve got to build smarter, more resilient infrastructure that can protect our homes and businesses and withstand more powerful storms. That means stronger sea walls, natural barriers, hardened power grids, hardened water systems. And we’ll partner wit communities seeking to help to prepare for droughts and floods, reduce the risk of wildfires, protect the dunes and wetlands that pull double duty as green space and as natural storm barriers. And we’ll also open our climate data and NASA climate imagery to the public to make sure that cities and states access risk under different climate scenarios so that we don’t waste money building structure that don’t withstand the next storm.

Since the House failed to pass their version of the farm bill there has been speculation over another one-year extension. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack says the failure of the House to pass the farm bill last week sent a message that the House leadership and the House generally don’t want to do their job. He says an extension is the easy way to handle the farm bill.

Now with today’s Food Forethought, here’s Lacy Gray.

President Obama’s speech on Tuesday in which he put forth his proposed new climate change plan has garnered reactions from every corner of the climate change debate. The speech focused on three areas: Cutting carbon pollution in America, preparing the U.S. for the impacts of climate change, and making sure the U.S. leads efforts on the international stage to address global climate change. So, what should we make of the President’s speech? One thing to keep in mind is that it is all about the timing. The “steady as she goes” thread that runs throughout the entirety of the speech is about not raising the ire of both a public already shell shocked from the economic crash and a not so obliging Congress, while reassuring environmentalists and major players watching around the globe that his administration still holds climate change a top priority. Some environmentalists scream that it’s too little too late. Others dismiss it as just rhetoric. Still others are hollering “foul” and that if Obama was so all fired up and concerned about climate change he would have started working on solutions in his first term. It will be very interesting to see what happens when push comes to shove.

Thanks Lacy. That’s today’s Northwest Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.