U.S. Government to Tax Cow Farts

As with everyone, there has been times, actually more times than I had wished, when I searched my bank book checking account to see where I was going to get the money to pay my bills.

That's the position that most farmers and ranchers are in these days, there just isn't enough money to stay in business and grow a crop or raise livestock.

And no, the Government is no help.

Everytime an American agriculture producer turns around, there is some regulation that is taking money from the needed funds to keep their farm or ranch in business.

It is maddening because it never ends!

And now, well, believe it or not, the Federal Government wants to measure cow farts!

How do you measure a fart? Who knows! But the government wants to do just that.

It was announced resently that the:

Feds want to Tax Cow Flatulence

Now, as insane as it sounds, the Federal Government wants to tax cow flatulence.

No, while I wish it was, this is not a joke.

Flatulence Taxation is just another scheme to raise money by Liberals in Washington DC.

It was reported on April 11th, 2014, that Senate Republicans are warning Americans that President Obama’s new focus on agricultural "methane emissions" could mean a tax on livestock emissions — including cow flatulence.

South Dakota Sen. John Thune and fellow GOP senators sent a letter to Obama urging him not to regulate cow flatulence, livestock emissions, as part of the president’s crusade against Global Warming.

Obama’s "Climate Action Plan" requires that the Dairy Industry would have to reduce methane emissions by 25% by 2020.

The United States Department of Agriculture, the Energy Department, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are set to put together a "Bio-gas" plan of action supposedly meant to reduce methane emissions -- including cow farts.

Republicans argue that Obama’s methane reduction plan could lead to even more "heavy-handed" over-regulations that would "have detrimental implications on livestock operations across the country"

The EPA is currently barred from regulating methane emissions from livestock production through an "annual appropriations rider" that expires every year.

But Republicans warn that this does not mean the EPA will not try again!

"In 2008, as part of its Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to regulate GHGs under the Clean Air Act, the EPA deliberated regulating agriculture-related emissions, which would have required farmers to purchase expensive permits," Republicans wrote to the heads of the USDA, DOE and EPA.

"It was estimated that these top-down regulations would have cost medium-sized dairy farms with 75 to 125 cows between $13,000 and $22,000 a year, and medium-sized cattle farms with 200 to 300 cows between $17,000 and $27,000," Republicans added.

"We reject the notion that the EPA should, absent express authorization from Congress, seek to regulate the agriculture sector in this manner."

Though EPA head Gina McCarthy has said there are no plans to regulate cattle emissions, there are still worries the agency could crack down on methane emissions from cow flatulence.

Why the concern? How can anyone think the EPA would do something like this?

Well, it is a fact that the EPA has said that the digestive systems of cows produce methane through a process called “enteric fermentation”.

According to some fictitious figure, the EPA says that cattle emissions alone make up 20% of all of the methane emissions in the United States.

Because Liberals worship at the alter of the EPA, Democrat lawmakers want to place Federal Regulators in place to make cuts to dairy and cattle production through rules targeting livestock feed and herd management methods.

Yes, the Federal Government dictates how cattle and other livestock will be produced in the future.

The individual rancher is losing his rights to raise cattle as he sees fit.

Today, just as in Communist nations, the state, the government believes that they own the livestock production in America.

Like children, Republicans beg Obama and those in his administration in charge of more government oversight -- to please have pity on ranchers and farmers.

"The agriculture community is committed to environmental stewardship, which is evidenced by the 11% reduction in agriculture-related methane emissions since 1990," Republicans wrote.

"It is our hope that the EPA, USDA, and DOE will work with Congress and the agriculture industry to outline voluntary measures that can be taken to reduce emissions without imposing heavy-handed regulations on farms across America."

The Federal Government should be out of the business of telling agriculture producers how to raise their products.

But they refuse to step aside and leave Americans alone to prosper, instead they want more and more control while turning American citizens into servants of the state.

That's just how I see it.

Tom Correa