Senate resolution says fee for animal emissions stinks

By Marc Kovac

Livestock flatulence is considered a pollutant under the U.S. Clean Air Act.

COLUMBUS — State lawmakers took a pre-emptive strike Wednesday against a potential federal tax on livestock flatulence.

The state Senate, on a 30-2 vote, adopted a resolution urging federal officials to refrain from plans to charge fees to farmers for livestock emissions.

The resolution was sponsored by Republican Sens. Bob Gibbs, from Lakeville, and Tim Grendell, from Chesterland. It heads to the Ohio House for further consideration.

The resolution stems from a U.S. Supreme Court decision that ruled greenhouse gases, including livestock emissions, are considered pollutants under the Clean Air Act. That could require farmers with 25 dairy cows, 50 beef cattle, 200 hogs or 200 sheep to obtain permits, at a cost ranging from $22-$175 per head.

Their resolution, a symbolic gesture showing the state’s stance on the issue, urges the Environmental Protection Agency not to implement new regulations on livestock producers, nor impose new fees on farmers for animals’ emissions.

“I think it’s important to remember that when the Clean Air Act was instituted, the intent of Congress at the time, was to clean up our air from smokestack industries,” Gibbs said. “I don’t think anyone envisioned that it would affect livestock production.”

He added, “It would equate to an 11 percent gross-receipts tax on Ohio’s livestock- and dairy-producers. Needless to say, that would be a devastating tax.”

Sen. Dale Miller, a Democrat from Cleveland, opposed the measure.

“[I] feel that global warming and climate change are one [sic] of the most important problems facing the planet and that the solutions are not going to be painless and cheap.”

But Gibbs countered that a tax on livestock emissions would do nothing to prevent global warming.

“There’s not any known technology to capture the emissions from beef cows, dairy cows or hogs,” he said. “Basically, this is a tax that will go somewhere else for administration. It does nothing to prevent ... the natural emissions [from livestock].”