Cattlemen's Capitol Concerns: Climate change legislation tabled for this year, but improvements eyed for agriculture

TSCRA Daily News Update, June 13, 2008

Climate change legislation tabled for this year, but improvements eyed for agriculture

As expected, a cloture vote failed last week on Senate legislation entitled America’s Climate Change Security Act (S. 3036) - which is also commonly referred to as the Lieberman-Warner Climate Change bill.

The bill gathered only 48 of the 60 votes required for cloture, meaning the bill is unlikely to make any further progress in Congress this year.

However, the topic is almost certain to return in the next Congress.

While the legislation is unlikely to regulate cattle operations, cattle producers could stand to benefit from a proposed program that would allow the agriculture industry to generate carbon credits for sale as offsets to regulated industries.

Such offsets could be generated by sequestering carbon in soils and trapping or reducing other greenhouse gas emissions. NCBA has been working with a broad coalition of interests on an amendment to improve this portion of the legislation when it comes up again for debate.

This includes providing USDA with clear authority over the agricultural offset program, and specifically listing eligible project types within the legislation.