Notes Perry, Staples Are Wrong On Global Warming

TYLER—Hank Gilbert, the Texas Democratic Party’s nominee for Agriculture Commissioner, Thursday night slammed Texas Governor Rick Perry for continuing to perpetuate the falsehood that the Environmental Protection Agency’s finding that greenhouse gases represent a public health threat will harm Texas agriculture.

“Controlling greenhouse gas emissions will not harm Texas agriculture. On the contrary, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and controlling global warming will actually benefit Texas agriculture,” Gilbert said.

Gilbert made his remarks in response to a letter Perry released today asking Congressional leaders to rescind a December 2009 EPA finding that greenhouse gasses are a threat to public health.

“Governor Perry and Commissioner Staples are both trying to perpetuate baseless, unsound, talking points in the hope that the myth will become truth,” Gilbert said. “The facts, however, speak for themselves.”

A 2009 report by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, program that coordinates and integrates federal research on environmental change for 13 federal agencies, concluded that changes caused by global warming would negatively impact agriculture. Its findings included noting that higher levels of warming would negatively affect growth and yield; extreme weather events are likely to reduce crop yields; forage quality in pastures and rangelands generally decline when carbon dioxide concentration increases; and that increased heat, disease, and weather extremes are likely to reduce livestock productivity.

“Texas farmers and ranchers can’t afford a governor and Agriculture Commissioner that are willing to ignore the facts about global warming,” Gilbert continued.

Last week, Staples called the EPA’s decision “unnecessary government meddling” in a blog post on the Texas Department of Agriculture’s official blog. He previously claimed the EPA decision will “drive the hard-working agriculture producers who provide us with the safest, most abundant food supply in the world out of business.”

“The reality is that agriculture stands to gain substantial new sources of income from efforts to reduce carbon load in the atmosphere. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has estimated that annual net returns to farmers will range from about $1 billion per year in 2015 through 2020 to almost $15 to $20 billion in 2040 through 2050,” Gilbert said.

“Todd Staples and Rick Perry are using agriculture as a patsy in the climate change battle. They are trying to inflame the agriculture community in order to distract from the fact that only real polluting industries will actually be penalized by legislation to reduce carbon load in the atmosphere. Agriculture will not be harmed. Staples and Perry realize that by using agribusiness as a patsy in this way, they can inflame more people and create a diversion,” Gilbert said.

FACT SHEET

Perry, Staples Perpetuate Myth That EPA Decision Will Hurt Agribusiness In Texas

FACT: Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples claims that clamping down on greenhouse gas emissions will harm Texas agriculture:

The EPA’s approach that we challenged today will drive the hard-working agriculture producers who provide us with the safest, most abundant food supply in the world out of business. [SOURCE: Official Blog of Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples, LINK]

Staples has also called the EPA’s determination that greenhouse gasses are harmful to public health “unnecessary government meddling:”

Unnecessary government meddling only drives out investors and provides a disincentive to do business in a particular locale, which ultimately hurts consumers. [SOURCE: Official Blog of Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples, LINK]

FACT: Global warming other problems caused by greenhouse gas emissions will harm Texas agriculture:

Many crops show positive responses to elevated carbon dioxide and lower levels of warming, but higher levels of warming often negatively affect growth and yields.

Extreme events such as heavy downpours and droughts are likely to reduce crop yields because excesses or deficits of water have negative impacts on plant growth.

Forage quality in pastures and rangelands generally declines with increasing carbon dioxide concentration because of the effects on plant nitrogen and protein content, reducing the land’s ability to supply adequate livestock feed.

Increased heat, disease, and weather extremes are likely to reduce livestock productivity. [SOURCE: Global Climate Change Impacts In The U.S., U.S. Global Research Program, LINK]

FACT: America’s farmers and ranchers will benefit greatly benefit from carbon offsets:

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack notes, “… creation of an offset market will create opportunities for the agricultural sector. In particular, our analysis indicates that annual net returns to farmers range from about $1 billion per year in 2015-20 to almost $15-20 billion in 2040-50, not accounting for the costs of implementing offset practices.

[…]

What does this mean for the individual farmer? A Northern Plains wheat producer, for example, might see an increase of $.80 per acre in costs of production by 2020 due to higher fuel prices. Based on a soil carbon sequestration rate of 0.4 tons per acre and a carbon price of $16 per ton, a producer could mitigate those expenses by adopting no-till practices and earning $6.40 per acre. So, this wheat farmer does better under the House passed climate legislation than without it. And, it’s quite possible that this wheat farmer could do even better if technologies and markets progress in such a way that allows for the sale of wheat straw to make cellulosic ethanol. [SOURCE: U.S. Department of Agriculture Press Release No. No. 0331.09; July 22, 2009 LINK]

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