Washington,
Oct 26 -
Iowa Congressman Tom Latham delivered remarks on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives on Monday urging lawmakers to stop the Environmental Protection Agency from implementing an onerous regulation requiring farmers to report greenhouse gas emission levels from manure management systems. Critics of the rule, unveiled by the EPA in March, estimate that it will drive up costs for all farmers, which will be passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices, without providing any tangible environmental benefits.
“I want to stress that this regulation has a cost, and, more importantly, it will do nothing to improve the environmental health of rural America,” Congressman Latham said during his floor remarks. "It doesn't make manure lagoons smell any better. It doesn't protect water wells or native species. It doesn't do one thing to improve the standard of living in rural Iowa or any part of this country. But I will tell you what it does do. It significantly drives up costs for farmers and hardworking American families at a time when our country is experiencing the worst recession in a generation.”
In June, Congressman Latham successfully offered an amendment in the House version of the Fiscal Year 2010 Interior Appropriations bill that would prevent the EPA from implementing the regulation, which was approved by the full House of Representatives. Latham’s amendment was not included in the Senate version of the bill and is set to be excluded from the final version of the bill scheduled to be considered by both the House and Senate. In response, Congressman Latham supported a procedural motion offered by House Republicans on Monday to instruct the House conferees on the House-Senate conference committee to keep his amendment in the final bill considered by both chambers and sent to the White House.
The House didn't vote on the motion to instruct conferees on Monday evening. A final vote on the Interior Appropriations conference report is expected later in the week.
