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ACGA calls for completion of Senate climate billKeith Bolin, president of the American Corn Growers Association again called upon the U.S. Senate to complete its work on the pending climate legislation this year. He also urged a united voice by all farm and rural organizations to support the climate legislation as well as the pending energy bill in the Senate. "Agriculture must not continue to keep their heads in the sand regarding climate change," said Bolin. "Farmers and ranchers will pay a huge price if we fail to take action. Other nations around the globe are acting now, including China, and the U.S. must help lead the way." "If agriculture continues to ignore sound science regarding the effects of increased greenhouse gasses, and our climate becomes increasingly erratic, to the point of even worsening production problems around the globe, the United States will be seen as obstructionists to a global effort that had great potential to help sustain the environment that family farmers depend on," added Bolin. Failure to act swiftly on this issue will result in a tragedy that our children's children will have to endure. The question then will be; why did we not act?" Bolin added that production agriculture has many opportunities in properly drafted climate change legislation, including; --The opportunity to build demand for renewable energy from the farm allowing increased completion for our production, --The opportunity to head off EPA regulation of greenhouse gas emissions, and imposing unfair requirements on the biofuels industry that holds biofuel producers responsible for international changes in land use, --The opportunity to keep agriculture off the list of regulated carbon users, --The opportunity to capitalize on agriculture's great carbon sequestration potential, --The opportunity to play a key role in reducing the impacts of climate change that are already negatively affecting agriculture. "ACGA has worked for years to develop sound policies for renewable energy from farms and forests, including ethanol, biodiesel, and biomass, as well as wind and solar generated electricity," said Bolin. "I again wish to personally applaud the efforts of Chairmen Waxman, Markey and Peterson in the U.S. House of Representatives for their leadership and initiative in passing the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (H.R. 2454) this past June. ACGA now calls upon the U.S. Senate to advance both their climate and energy bills and we sincerely hope to see the legislation sent to President Obama for enactment before the end of the year."
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