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AFBF backs bipartisan house effort to nullify EPA proposalThe Environmental Protection Agency's proposed scheme to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act is "economically harmful, legally suspect and environmentally indefensible," according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. AFBF is urging House members to support a bipartisan resolution to disapprove EPA's greenhouse gas proposal, H.J. Res. 76, introduced by Reps. Ike Skelton (D-MO), Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO), and House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-MN). The resolution would nullify EPA's proposal, which is built around the agency's flawed finding in December 2009 that greenhouse gases indirectly threaten human health and therefore could be regulated under the Clean Air Act. The resolution to disapprove EPA's proposal would not weaken any environmental protections, but would simply provide Congress the appropriate opportunity to debate and legislate in this area, according to AFBF. "U.S. farmers and ranchers will be harmed by higher energy and fertilizer costs if EPA is allowed to move forward with its proposal to regulate GHGs," said AFBF President Bob Stallman. Further, according to AFBF, if EPA is allowed to move forward with its proposal, "it appears likely that for the first time in history, even medium- and small-sized farming operations might have to comply" with expensive permitting requirements. "Such policy decisions, which will affect the entire U.S. economy for decades to come, should be made by elected officials, not by a regulatory agency," Stallman said. He also encouraged both chambers of Congress to work toward bipartisan consensus on the disapproval matter. AFBF also strongly supports S.J. Res. 26, a resolution introduced in the Senate by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) to disapprove EPA's regulation of greenhouse gases. The Peterson-Skelton-Emerson resolution introduced in the House is identical to Murkowski's resolution in the Senate, as well as another House resolution, H.J. Res 77, introduced by Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX).
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