Maybe the government needs to find ways to use biofuels on farm animals to
reduce emissions. What is wrong with the people in our governments? Do they
not have a clue as to what is going on? And I thought things were getting
bad here in the U.S. O.K., I've gotten it out of my system, I just
remembered we elected these dummies.
Ron
- Original Message -
From: Keith Addison [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: biofuel@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sunday, May 20, 2001 7:35 AM
Subject: [biofuel] More about methane :-)
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/010520103041.1y4o72zc.html
SPACE WIRE
Tax on flatulent animals could cost NZ farmers a packet
WELLINGTON (AFP) May 20, 2001
A flatulence tax proposed to offset the damage to the ozone layer by
farm animal gases could cost New Zealand farmers up to five billion
NZ dollars (2.1 billion US), a report said Sunday.
The proposal is included in the government's policy on climate
change, aimed at complying with the Kyoto Protocol guidelines to
reduce greenhouse gases, the Sunday Star-Times reported.
The government is looking at taxing farmers between four and 60 NZ
dollars for each cow and sheep they own, because of the dangerous
gases the animals produce through dung, urine and flatulence.
Nitrous oxide from dung and urine, and methane from flatulence, are
blamed for damaging the ozone layer and contributing to global
warming.
New Zealand has nearly 47 million sheep and 10 million beef and dairy
cattle.
While New Zealand contributes only 0.2 percent of world greenhouse
gas emissions, 55 percent of that comes from methane and nitous oxide
in agricultural soil.
The tax proposal suggests that the government could reap between two
and five billion NZ dollars from the levy on farm animals between
2008 and 2012.
Farmers are baffled about how to remedy natural animal behaviour and
say the tax could make farming uneconomic.
But cabinet minister Pete Hodgson, who is responsible for the
government's climate change policy, denied Sunday that a tax was
being considered, saying research was the way to go.
Research into livestock digestion and pasture composition may
deliver the double benefit of reducing emissions while improving the
efficiency of the animals conversion of food to bodyweight, he said
in a statement.
Federated Farmers president Alastair Polson said the tax move -- if
it went ahead -- was a significant shift in the tax burden to the
productive economy.
The federation argues that any reduction in emissions New Zealand
could make were so small in a global sense that the cost of achieving
them would outweigh the benefits.
It will soon release a discussion paper on the proposed tax.
The government aims to introduce climate change legislation by the
end of the year, which would lead to the ratification of the protocol
by mid-2002.
All rights reserved. © 2000 Agence France-Presse.
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