2 votes
Given the importance of the agricultural sector to climate action, I’m going to repost both a Wonk Room piece by Brad Johnson and an analysis by Jake Caldwell, Director of Policy for Agriculture, Trade & Energy at American Progress.
In testimony before the Senate Agriculture Committee today, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack debunked conservative fearmongering of the cost of cap-and-trade legislation on American farmers. Right-wing organizations from the Heritage Foundation to the American Farm Bureau have presented flawed analyses of the Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security Act (H.R. 2454) to claim that a cap on global warming pollution would lead to a “permanent drought season” for the agricultural sector. At the request of Republican Senators Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) and Mike Johanns (R-NE), the U.S. Department of Agriculture conducted their own analysis of the clean energy legislation. As Vilsack testified, the USDA found that “the economic benefits to agriculture from cap and trade legislation will likely outweigh the costs”:
In testimony before the Senate Agriculture Committee today, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack debunked conservative fearmongering of the cost of cap-and-trade legislation on American farmers. Right-wing organizations from the Heritage Foundation to the American Farm Bureau have presented flawed analyses of the Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security Act (H.R. 2454) to claim that a cap on global warming pollution would lead to a “permanent drought season” for the agricultural sector. At the request of Republican Senators Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) and Mike Johanns (R-NE), the U.S. Department of Agriculture conducted their own analysis of the clean energy legislation. As Vilsack testified, the USDA found that “the economic benefits to agriculture from cap and trade legislation will likely outweigh the costs”:
