Fossil fuels. Cars and planes. Food production.
All contribute to climate change. Farms produce methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Lots of it.
You’ve heard of burping cows?
No joke, cows are a major emitter of methane (see story here; for a quick overview of agricultural pollution in general, go here).
For now, Democrats and environmentalists are focusing on the oil and gas industry, the “low-hanging fruit” of methane reduction, because that’s “the cheapest, most effective, most certain way to achieve methane reductions,” according to the Environmental Defense Fund.
But, an article in The Hill says (here), “some argue that the government should be doing more to tackle methane emissions from … agricultural activities, which … make up the greatest share of U.S. methane emissions.” That presents a touchy political problem for Democrats, though, especially heading in next year’s midterm elections. “From a political standpoint, … imposing penalties on agricultural pollution is unpopular in many battleground states.”
States like Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
Frankly, I don’t think the idea of not growing food would go anywhere; so this is really about better ways of growing food.
An Iowa Democratic county chair suggests, “If you … talk about incentivizing better practices, that gets a lot more traction.” Iowa is a key state for Democrats in 2022, because they have to defend a House seat they barely won in 2020, hope to reclaim two more seats they won in 2018 and lost in 2020, and are also hoping for a possible Senate pickup there (although that’s unlikely).
As this highlights, the Democrats can’t just write off farmer votes, or give up on farm states. But as farms, collectively, are the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, thei pollution can’t be ignored either. What to do?
The Biden administration and Congress are now in the process of writing a $3.5 trillion spending bill that includes provisions to address climate change (by reducing greenhouse gas emissions). The Environmental Protection agency is now in the process of writing new regulations on methane emissions. Both will focus on the oil and gas industry, everybody’s favorite ogre.
Sounds like they’re going to punt on agricultural methane for now. Maybe after the 2022, 2024, 2026, 2028 … elections, eh?
Click on image to activate cow