by E&E Legal Senior Policy Fellow Greg Walcher
As appearing in The Daily Sentinel
The Minnesota Court of Appeals has ruled that a dairy farm cannot expand its operation, adding additional cows, without an “environmental impact statement” (EIS) analyzing its effect on global climate change. To be fair, there should be a similar legal requirement, whenever significant changes might affect agriculture, for a “dietary impact statement.”
Adding more cows might result in more methane gas emissions, as opponents say. But it might also result in a greater supply of milk and beef, and thus lower food prices. Perhaps educated consumers should be given all the information on both sides, and allowed to decide for themselves.
John Hinderaker, the brilliant award-winning Minnesota attorney and author who runs the Center of the American Experiment, wrote a great piece for “PowerLine Blog” about dairy cows that are now “Tangled Up in the Green New Deal.” He suggests that the controversial environmental initiative signals a desire on the part of some extremists “to control every aspect of our lives,” because “everything we do, beginning with breathing, involves emission of carbon dioxide…”
