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S. C. R. No. 8 As Introduced
As Introduced
| 128th General Assembly | | Regular Session | | 2009-2010 |
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Cosponsors:
Senators Carey, Schaffer
A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
| To memorialize the Administrator of the United States
Environmental Protection Agency to refrain from
adopting any new regulations governing greenhouse
gas emissions from livestock that would impose
permit fees on livestock producers, and to
memorialize the Congress of the United States to
enact legislation introduced by United States
Senators John Thune and Charles Schumer that
proposes to amend Title V of the Clean
Air Act to
establish appropriate exemptions for
livestock
producers.
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BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF OHIO
(THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING):
| WHEREAS, The livestock industry is vital to the economy and
food supply of Ohio and the United States. Ohio livestock
producers add nearly $2 billion of economic output to the Ohio
economy each year, and the livestock industry provides jobs to
thousands of Ohioans; and |
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WHEREAS, In the case of Massachusetts v. Environmental
Protection Agency, 549 U.S. 497 (2007), the United States Supreme
Court recognized that greenhouse gases are pollutants within the
meaning of the federal Clean Air Act; and |
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WHEREAS, Title V of the Clean Air Act requires any entity
with emissions of pollutants in excess of one hundred thousand
tons per year to obtain an operating permit.
The United States
Department of Agriculture (USDA) has recognized that a livestock
producer with more than twenty-five dairy cattle, fifty beef
cattle, or two hundred hogs would exceed that threshold for
greenhouse gas emissions. Thus, according to USDA, Title V permit
requirements under the Clean Air Act might impact up to 99% of all
milk production, 90% of all beef production, and 95% of all hog
production nationally; and |
| WHEREAS, Permit fees levied under Title V of the Clean Air
Act would impose an unprecedented burden on Ohio livestock
producers and limit their ability to compete in the global
marketplace. Such a burden would most definitely result in the
reduction of livestock production in Ohio and the United States, a
loss of jobs, and a loss to the gross domestic product of Ohio and
the United States; and |
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WHEREAS, While protecting the environment and curbing
emissions of harmful pollutants is a growing concern, it is not
acceptable to impose a virtual tax on livestock producers
considering that the atmospheric environmental impacts of
livestock, if any, have not been proven to directly cause or
contribute to any global warming phenomenon attributable to
greenhouse gases; and |
| WHEREAS, United States Senator John Thune from South Dakota
and United States Senator Charles Schumer from New York have
introduced S.527 that, if enacted, will prevent the USEPA from
imposing fees on livestock producers under Title V of the Clean
Air Act by specifying that Title V does not apply to methane
emissions from livestock agriculture; now therefore be it |
| RESOLVED, That we, the members of the 128th General Assembly
of the State of Ohio, in adopting this resolution, urge the United
States Environmental Protection Agency to refrain from adopting
any new regulations governing greenhouse gas emissions from
livestock that would impose permit fees on livestock producers;
and be it further |
| RESOLVED, That we, the members of the 128th General Assembly
of the State of Ohio, in adopting this resolution, urge the United
States Congress to enact S.527, which proposes to amend Title V of
the Clean Air Act to establish appropriate exemptions for
livestock producers; and be it further |
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RESOLVED, That the Clerk of the Senate transmit duly
authenticated copies of this resolution to the Administrator of
the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the Speaker and
Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, the President
Pro Tempore and Secretary of the United States Senate, the members
of the Ohio Congressional delegation, and the news media of Ohio. |
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