I let you know earlier in the month about the Brokeifornia legislation passing cow far legislation. Now we get
Cow Fart Regulation Passed Into California Law (yes, that really is the headline)
Gov. Jerry Brown has signed legislation that regulates emissions from dairy cows and landfills for the first time as California broadens its efforts to fight climate change beyond carbon-based greenhouse gases.
Will this hurt California’s cow farmers, which revolves heavily around milk production?
(NY Post) Dairy farmers will be required to reduce methane emissions from manure to 40 percent below their 2013 levels by 2030, with the help of $50 million from the state’s fee charged to polluters, known as cap-and-trade.
The money will help a handful of them buy dairy digesters, which use methane from manure to generate energy that’s sold to electrical utilities.
The law also allows the Air Resources Board to regulate cow flatulence if there’s viable technology to reduce it.
Taxpayer money will be used for this idiocy, but, you can still expect the price of milk to go up.
What’s mostly missed, though, in the absurdity of regulating cow farts, is
The new law requires steep reductions in a variety of pollutants, including methane; HFC gases used in aerosols and air conditioning refrigerants; and soot, known as black carbon. It’s tied to $90 million in funding for the dairy industry and garbage collectors.
Everything in there will increase the costs to consumers. But, hey, the majority of Californians who voted for this, keep your mouths shut when you start feeling the economic pain. It’s on you.
