$175 per cow gas tax?

AgWeb Blogs

The internet lit up last week about a possible Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) green house gas (GHG) tax on dairy cows that would amount to a $175 per cow annual fee simply for ruminating.
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In 2008-2009, the “presumptive minimum fee” for the emissions permit is $43.75/ton/year of emitted GHG, which translates into $175 for each dairy cow, $87.50 for each head of beef cattle and $20 for hog. Can you say ouch?

The average U.S. dairy farm, which now milks 155 cows, would be facing a $27,000 annual GHG permitting fee.

Such onerous penalties are insane. What it would amount to, for the mere privilege of inhalation, exhalation, and flatulency, would be 87.5¢ fee on each hundredweight of milk produced. And that doesn’t include the higher feed prices driven by the permitting fees on crop farmers. (Farms with more than 500 acres of corn or 250 acres of soybeans would also be required to obtain—and pay for—emissions permits.) And for what?

Again, if you ask any questions, it means you hate polar bears and grandchildren.