Beef Group Challenges EPA Climate Change Finding

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association has filed a challenge to the Environmental Protections Agency’s (EPA’s) finding that manmade greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) endanger human health and the environment. Filed by a coalition of interested parties in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on December 23, 2009, the petition calls for the court to determine that the agency lacked an adequate basis to make its finding. The finding apparently provides the foundation for EPA to regulate GHGs regardless of action that could be taken by Congress on pending climate change legislation.

According to an association press statement, “EPA’s finding is not based on a rigorous scientific analysis; yet it would trigger a cascade of future greenhouse gas regulations with sweeping impacts across the entire U.S. economy,” said Tamara Thies, chief environmental counsel. “Why the Administration decided to move forward on this type of rule when there’s so much uncertainty surrounding humans’ contribution to climate change is perplexing,” Thies said. She contends that if EPA ultimately imposes limitations on GHGs, farmers could be forced to cease operations. Livestock farms apparently emit carbon dioxide from their machinery and trucks, and cattle waste emits methane. See NCBA News Release, December 24, 2009.

In a related development, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has requested that USDA’s chief economist work with EPA to review assumptions in the model the environmental agency used to calculate the effects of proposed climate legislation on agriculture. Vilsack is calling for the model to be updated and for the development of options on best avoiding unintended consequences for agriculture. According to Vilsack, “I am aware that the results of the FASOM model have caused considerable concern within the farm and ranch community as a result of the model’s projections on afforestation over the next several decades. If landowners plant trees to the extent the model suggests, this would be disruptive to agriculture in some regions of the country.”