[Pilgrim]

"Farmers are up in arms over a Bush admin EPA proposal to levy $175 a year on each dairy cow, 87.50 on beef cattle, and $20 per hog." via Yahoo:

"It makes perfect sense if you are looking for ways to cut down on meat consumption and recoup environmental losses, said Bruce Friedrich, a spokesman in Washington for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
We certainly support making factory farms pay their fair share, he said."

For those of us who don't have the good sense to avoid Big Macs and those thick, juicy ribeyes (and to say nothing of dairy products) - the US Govt. has once again proposes to come to our rescue. There have been jokes around for several years about the environmental wackos' concerns about bovine flatulence and its effect on greenhouse gases. Now it appears that there are some nitwits in the EPA that actually take the idea seriously.

Jules Crittenden Cow Tax

This proposal seems a little far-fetched, but it wouldn't be surprising to see some bureaucrats try to slip this through in the dark of night during the turmoil of administration changes.

[classadriver]

I dont know how much the epa is concerned about animals farting.I think its more about the runoff into our water supply
e-coli can be a nasty thing.

an average turkey farm with just 3 bulidings produce over 150 tons of crap per year just think thats a small bird what do you think the hog buildings produce.

however I am not in favor of such a tax.

I saw a video once of a farmer that was ****ed off at city haul and he took his poop slinger into town and sprayed down city hall I rolled on the floor that day.

if such a tax is passed I hope the farmers go to washington and paint the whole dang town.

kinda like the boston tea party maybe a poop party would be just what them folks need

[FIS53]

All that animal crap can be used to produce methane. One of the very NE states has a few of these electricity from methane from animal poop operations. They charge more for the electricity produced but they also have an expensive system. Methane can also be used to fuel vehicles and the cost should be near 15 cents/litre or about 57 cents a US gallon. Of course that would be without taxation but as an alternative fuel the taxes should be less than gas. Large plants could produce electricity from methane like Britian does and the fuel is cheaper than oil or natural gas.
This is one area where crap is useful.
Rob

[OntarioVanMan]

some of the bigger farms actually use the methane to heat water in a boiler system to heat thier operation and thier house...