Farm Bureau pledges to oppose regulation of greenhouse gases

By WES SANDER
Capital Press

A Farm Bureau representative in Washington, D.C., says the odds of Congress adopting a cap and trade climate bill in 2010 are slim.

"I don't think (climate legislation) is in the works for this year," said Rick Krause, American Farm Bureau Federation senior director of Congressional relations.

A poll released last week by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press showed more than 80 percent of Americans think the economy and jobs should be the top priority of the administration and Congress. Only 28 percent think climate change should be a priority, down from 30 percent a year ago.

Politicians are expected to shy away from climate legislation as midterm elections approach in November.

Among Democrats, that effect is perceived to have intensified after the election of Republican Scott Brown to an historically Democratic Senate seat in Massachusetts.

Even before Brown's win, Senate Democrats had failed to garner enough support from their own members to pass a climate measure.

"Time is starting to get short, and with the push for jobs and the economy, I don't think they're going to get the kind of things they would have gotten," Krause said.

That includes a cap and trade program, which passed the House of Representatives last summer.

The Farm Bureau has put the issue at the top of its agenda. At the organization's annual meeting in Seattle this month, delegates voted to oppose cap and trade, saying the federal budget should be a priority instead.

They also voted to support any measure that opposes EPA's regulation of greenhouse gases, and said the costs to producers of a cap and trade system would far outweigh its benefits.

One common opinion says the threat of EPA regulation of greenhouse gases was partly responsible for getting a climate bill, which includes a cap and trade mandate, passed last summer in the House of Representatives, Krause said.

This year the situation is reversed," he said. "The EPA is moving forward a lot faster than the bill."

The EPA is scheduled to implement its rules this spring, but a resolution of disapproval by Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, could stall it. Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln, who chairs the Senate agriculture committee, said she would co-sponsor the measure.

Lincoln "recognizes the very real apprehension that Americans today harbor about the overreach of government regulations," said Farm Bureau President Bob Stallman in a statement. "America's farmers and ranchers believe incentives and initiatives that focus on clean energy would be much more effective than once again trotting out the heavy hand of government regulation."

President Barack Obama would have to sign the bill to stall EPA's regulations, but both he and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson have said they prefer legislation to new agency regulations.

"It's easier to stop a regulation from happening than allowing a regulation to move forward and then stopping it once it's in place," Krause said.

Krause said a scaled-back energy bill could still move forward this year, but nothing involving cap and trade.

"We're still following it closely because you never know, but the people we talk to don't feel that they can do it," he said.

"I wouldn't rule it out in the second two years of (Obama's) term," Krause said. "A lot of it depends on the shape of the economy. But I think it will take a different shape than what we've seen so far."