Cow "Gas" Tax

Farmers think cow tax plan stinks

SARATOGA - New York's farmers plan to fight a federal proposal that would charge them for the gas produced by their cows.

Some consider cow gas a major contributor to global warming. So the feds have floated the idea of charging farmers for their bovines' gastric eruptions.

You might cows them as a source of milk, but the Environmental Protection Agency sees them as a source of methane gas -- the kind that traps heat in the earth's atmosphere and contributes to global warming.

"You can hear them burp as they ruminate, when they bring back up to chew it again. That's what emits the methane," explained Charlie Hanehan of Hanehan Dairy Farm.

The EPA has floated the idea of taxing farmers for each of their cows.

Hanehan estimates it would cost about $175 per cow, per year. He milks 1,300 cows.

"It would probably be around $230,000 per year for our dairies," Hanehan said. "You can figure that that's pretty much going to wipe us out."

So Hanehan and other New York farmers are asking Congress to step in to make sure this idea of taxing farms for flatulence is expelled swiftly.

Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-Greenport, who is on the Agriculture Committee, says the whole idea stinks.

"The first thing I'm going to do is call the chairman of our Agriculture Committee and talk to him about this and how it's upset my farmers and ask him how quickly we can get this done," she said.

The idea of a gas tax on cows has been raised in other countries, but was blocked by the farming community.

This is such a screwy idea.

A cow gas tax? Other than putting family farms out of business, what would this accomplish?

Is the EPA hoping the tax would cut down on the cow population, thereby reducing their allegedly environmentally threatening emissions?

A tax isn't going to make the cows stop doing what they do.

I can't imagine that Congress would actually pass this gas tax, but then again, we are entering a new era. Barack Obama is going to change the world.

He may try to do it one cow at a time.