Farmers Relax (a Little) After Cow Tax Scare - Green Inc. Blog - NYTimes.com

To ranchers, they were two of the most absurd and terrifying words in the English language: “cow tax.”

Last last year, rumors that the Environmental Protection Agency was considering a tax on methane in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions caused angst in the farming community.

Methane, which the E.P.A. considers over 20 times more potent as a heat-trapping greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, is emitted when a cows burp. The New York Farm Bureau calculated that such a tax could amount to $175 per dairy cow, and about half that for beef cattle.

The outrage was palpable.
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“A cow tax is clearly a bad idea and, if implemented, would have huge impacts on U.S. agriculture,” wrote Cynthia Cory, the director of environmental affairs for the California Farm Bureau Federation, in an article on the organization’s Web site this week. “But since no one proposed a cow tax, the question instead is: Should President Obama’s administration use the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gas emissions?

“If the administration is listening,” Ms. Cory continued, “the answer is, ‘No.’”

BBC NEWS | UK | Snow brings yet another day of chaos

Hundreds of stranded motorists had to spend the night away from home
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Heavy snow has brought a fifth day of chaos to the UK, with severe weather warnings issued to much of the country.
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More than 3,000 schools have closed across southern England and Wales.

Bloomberg Supports, But Doesn’t Join, Emissions ‘Covenant’ - Green Inc. Blog - NYTimes.com

New York’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg plans to issue a declaration on Tuesday offering his support for a European Union initiative binding participating cities to a 20 percent reduction in emissions by 2020 — though he won’t be committing his city to the target.