Cow Fart Tax and Jim Sensenbrenner

Wisconsin's Jim Sensenbrenner tells it like it is. He doesn't mince words when he speaks of a proposed tax on bovine emissions.

(Note: Bovine emissions are cow farts.)

From The Hill:

A tax on bovine emissions could hurt American farmers and consumers, House Select Energy Independence and Global Warming Committee Ranking Member James Sensenbrenner (R-Wisc.) warned Tuesday.

Sensenbrenner condemned a proposed tax from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on cattle and some pigs on the basis of those animals' methane emissions, which contribute in part to global climate change.

"This cow fart tax shows how outrageous the whole global warming and climate change debate is," Sensenbrenner said during an appearance on Fox News. "It might be more civilized. The EPA calls it digestive gases. We all call those farts."

The Wisconsin lawmaker, who leads Republicans on the committee overseeing the effects of global warming, said the taxes would be passed on to consumers who buy animal products.

"Well, the average Joe, when he goes to the supermarket and buys any kind of dairy product or beef or pork is going to end up paying through the nose to pay for the cow fart tax," Sensenbrenner said.

Sensenbrenner has a way with words, "paying through the nose to pay for the cow fart tax."

Here's video from FOX News of Sensenbrenner discussing the tax:



Sensenbrenner has been speaking out against the tax for quite a while now.

Last week, he addressed the Heartland Institute's Third International Conference on Climate Change in Washington, D.C.

From Climate Realists:

“In a 5-4 decision in the case of Massachusetts versus the EPA,” Sensenbrenner explained, the Court “said the EPA could declare CO2 was a pollutant. Now there are several greenhouse gases. CO2 is the one that is the most common and the largest producer of CO2 in the world is the ocean, which we’re not going to be able to control.”

However, if the EPA were given the authority to regulate CO2 as a pollutant, it would also mean the government agency has the ability to regulate methane gas – which is primarily emitted from livestock. Sensenbrenner called this the “cow fart tax.”

“However, methane gas is much more effective in keeping warmth in the atmosphere than CO2, but has a much shorter half-life,” Sensenbrenner explained. “To show you how ridiculous this is getting, the EPA has got the proposed regulation imposing a cow fart tax of $175 a year on every head of dairy cattle in the United States and $80 for beef cattle, $20 per head of hogs.”

The Wisconsin congressman didn’t have a technological solution for livestock greenhouse gas emissions.

“I don’t know if we’re supposed to develop the technology to strap a catalytic converter on the back of a cow,” Sensenbrenner quipped.

This is so nuts, but there really is nothing funny about this.

Why, during a recession, would the government hit farmers and consumers with a cow fart tax?

Now is not the time.