US farmers may reap $24.5 bln/yr from CO2 bill-study
Published By: Reuters
May 31, 2008
WASHINGTON, May 31 (Reuters) - U.S. farmers could reap a $24.5 billion paycheck every year from low-carbon practices like collecting methane from livestock and using low-till crop methods if the U.S. Congress passes a bill to cut U.S. emissions of heat-trapping gases, according to a report to be released on Monday.
The U.S. Senate next week is set to debate a bill that could cut total U.S. global warming emissions by 66 percent by 2050. A study by the Bipartisan Policy Center shows a hefty pay-off for Farm State lawmakers who could be a key to the bill's success.
"As a practical political matter,
support from farm state senators will be
critical to passing mandatory legislation,"
said Paul Bledsoe, spokesman for the nonprofit,
nonpartisan legislative think-tank.
Under the measure set for Senate
debate, known as the Lieberman-Warner Climate
Security Act, U.S. greenhouse gas emissions
would drop by about 2 percent per year between
2012 and 2050, based on 2005 emission levels.
Cap-and-trade provisions in the bill
would set up a lucrative market for buying and
selling carbon emissions credits -- essentially
the right to emit heat-trapping gases.
Between 2012 and 2030, those credits
could be worth $440 billion to U.S. farmers,
averaging $24.5 billion over the 18 years,
according to the report which was made
available to Reuters.
"Done well, a national greenhouse gas
emissions control policy can provide a new
multibillion dollar per year market opportunity
for farmers," said the study, which was
spearheaded by former senators Tom Daschle and
Bob Dole -- both former Senate majority leaders
who hail from South Dakota and Kansas,
respectively.
The U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency has estimated that 168 million tons of
carbon dioxide could be sequestered in U.S.
agricultural soil each year.
If carbon emissions allowances are
valued at $10 per ton, sequestration efforts
could yield $1.7 billion a year to farmers, the
report said.
Livestock producers could also collect
methane -- a greenhouse gas 21 times more
potent than carbon dioxide -- and turn it into
a gas that can power an electric generator to
create electricity for farm operations, the
group said.
(Reporting by Chris Baltimore;
editing by Jim Marshall)
((chris.baltimore@thomsonreuters.com;
+ 202 898 8316; Reuters Messaging: chris.baltimore.reuters.com@reuters.net))
Keywords: USA WARMING/AGRICULTURE
