Federal energy bill good for farmers
Any farmer who would like to see the next generation stay in the business has an interest in taking strong action on global warming. The federal report on impacts of climate change describes the many challenges it will present to farmers, including unpredictable spring flooding, new heat extremes, and invasive new species of weeds, pests, and disease. Illinois corn growers could lose $243 million a year.
The President of the National Farmers Union argues that farmers and rural landowners will benefit from the Waxman-Markey ACES bill.
“We know that input costs will increase under a cap and trade system. However, a robust and flexible agricultural offset program will allow producers to mitigate some of these inputs and, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, allow them to economically benefit in the long run. When coupled with aggressive renewable energy initiatives, rural America stands to significantly benefit.”
The NFU has also pointed out the job creation and economic benefits of rural energy production that would result from the bill.
Electricity production from wind would result in rural landowners receiving between $475 million and $562 million in payments from wind farm leases. Electricity production from renewable biomass would result in payments of at least $25 billion to farmers of these new crops by 2020. And $43.4 billion to $66.7 billion in capital would be invested in new clean-energy facilities, mostly in rural areas.
The cap-and-trade bill also benefits rural coops and their members who build solar panels and turbines like the gob nob turbine in Farmersville. So it's surprising to see two electric coops participating in the polluter rally Tuesday, including the Auburn-based RECC that built the gob nob turbine.
By spending more on rural efficiency projects and decentralized renewable energy, the ACES bill will make them less dependent on big utility companies, which is partly why coops were originally founded. Unfortunately, RECC made a risky contract with a company building new coal-fired plants that may become a financial liability for its members.
Another rally participant, the Illinois Farm Bureau, may not be so concerned about the next generation of farmers because most of its members aren't farming. The Prairie Rivers Network found that a majority of its membership are non-farmer members and it "owns, in full or in part, 18 separate corporations" including major investments in oil refining and distribution.
Given the Bureau's history of siding with the coal and oil industries, and failure to back up central Illinois farmers being hit by longwall mine subsidence, it's fair to ask whose interests they're really looking out for. Their state board already voted to oppose cap-and-trade legislation but their website says they're still taking suggestions from members about energy issues.
These groups claim to speak for farmers and rural residents but their ties to the oil and coal industries tell us more about why they'll be at the polluters rally Tuesday.
