A pollution tax on cows? It could become reality at local dairy farms, according to Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and farmers and legislators have already expressed outrage.
The possibility is being discussed even as the federal agency involved denies it is considering such a plan.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is considering a "cow tax" in its effort to regulate greenhouse gases, Schumer said.
The plan would require farmers with more than 25 dairy cows to pay for a permit _ and that would be wrong, he said.
"It is in the category of you can't believe this,' but it is happening in Washington," he said during a Tuesday phone conference.
According to figures provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and American Farm Bureau, the cost would be $175 per cow, Schumer said. The cost varies with other farm livestock.
The idea for the tax stems from a 2007 Supreme Court ruling stating that the EPA cannot categorically refuse to regulate greenhouse emissions under the federal Clean Air Act, Schumer said.
On July 30, the EPA started considering regulations that included purchasing permits for dairy, beef cattle and other livestock, he said.
A spokeswoman for the EPA denied such a plan had been proposed. The comment period on possible regulations recently ended, she said. Attempts for clarification Tuesday night were unsuccessful, though John Millett, a spokesman for the agency's air and radiation division, told The Associated Press on Friday, "EPA is not proposing any type of tax on livestock."
"I think it is really stupid," said Bloomville dairy farmer Barbara Hanselman, whose farm would be affected. The effects be devastating, she said. "There will be a huge exit from the industry if that occurs."
Schumer said that the EPA proposal on livestock amounted to "a tax on when they belch."
He asked that the agency exclude the agriculture industry from any tax proposal.
Hanselman said farmers already get taxed enough. With high property taxes, "farmers pay their share," she said.
The profit margins are already too narrow for any food producers to pay this kind of tax, she said, and if farmers are forced out, more food will have to be imported.
The secure food supply in place would be endangered, she said, citing news reports about the dangers of imported foods such as contaminated baby formula from China, she said.
Middlefield dairy farmer John Sears said that his operation was already having a poor year. Any added expenses will just make the situation worse, he said.
"Most dairy farmers are living at the edge," he said, and such a tax would definitely force some out.
Peter Gregg, a spokesman with the New York Farm Bureau, said his agency has been fighting inclusion of livestock in any proposal. The agency will know next year how successful it has been, he said, and it will take further action if necessary to make sure New York farmers are not affected.
The state Assembly ranking member on the Agriculture Committee, Clifford Crouch, R-Guilford, said family farms are the "backbone of the New York economy.
"Do livestock emissions really constitute a federal priority?" he asked.
If farmers are forced to pay the "cow tax," they would be at a competitive disadvantage, which could lead to more imported food, he said.
Cornell Cooperative Extension Educator Mariane Kiraly said that when she first heard about the idea, she thought it was a joke.
Dairy farmers have no control over the prices they receive, so they are ill-equipped to absorb what would amount to an "unfunded mandate," she said.
Not only will it hurt existing farmers, she said, but it would discourage anyone entering the business.
