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back to Organic Consumers Assn. Stop Food Irradiation page Action Alert! Tell Your Senator: Don't Give Tax Breaks to Burn Filthy Cow & Hog Waste! August 20, 2001 Sen. Charles Grassley, Republican from Iowa, has proposed legislation (S. 1219) to provide tax credits for electricity produced from hog and cow manure and other related waste. Public Citizen opposes this legislation for three reasons: because incinerating the waste is bad for public health and the environment; allowing hog and cattle farms to burn their waste will encourage increased production at these animal factories, further compounding the environmental hazards; and because government should not be doling out corporate welfare to the hog/cattle farm industry. The bill will first be considered by the Senate Finance Committee, then the full Senate. What the Legislation Does S. 1219 was introduced by Iowa Republican Senator Charles Grassley on July 23, 2001. The bill amends the "Section 45" renewable energy electricity production income tax credit to include manure from hogs and cattle as "renewable energy sources". Section 45 was originally intended to only provide incentives for traditional renewable energy, such as wind power. But a 1999 law included chicken feces as an eligible fuel to generate electricity. The chicken provision, however, is set to expire in January 2002. Section 45 provides a tax credit of 1.7 cents for every kilowatt hour of electricity produced (this amount increases each year with inflation). Grassley's bill will include hog and cattle manure (but not chickens) as a qualifying fuel for the credit from 2002 through 2007. The tax credit would reduce income taxes for hog and cattle factories by hundreds of millions of dollars. Why This Bill Is Bad While supporters claim that burning hog and cattle manure is a "renewable" form of electricity production, studies show that burning this waste is just as polluting as burning coal. Research shows that nitrogen oxides, hydrogen chloride and mercury emissions from burning manure equal that of burning coal, and sulfur dioxide emissions are nearly equal that of coal. These pollutants emitted by burning animal waste are extremely hazardous for public health. Mercury is a neurotoxin which is especially damaging to children and can cause developmental disorders in fetuses. Sulfur dioxide causes acid rain and can also impair breathing and aggravate existing respiratory diseases. Nitrogen oxides create acid rain and damage lung tissue, create ground-level ozone (a poison), and contribute to global warming. Providing hundreds of millions in taxpayer subsidies to hog and cattle factory farms will increase the public health hazards produced by storing and burning huge amounts of animal manure. Rather than spend hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on this dirty process, money could more wisely be spent on bonafide renewable technologies like wind and solar. What You Can Do to Stop It Contact the 21 Senators on the Senate Finance Committee and tell them "vote no on S 1219". Senators on the Finance Committee Frank Murkowski (R) Alaska Blanche Lincoln (D) Arkansas Charles Grassley (R) Iowa Olympia Snowe (R) Maine Trent Lott (R) Mississippi Robert Torricelli (D) New Jersey Kent Conrad (D) North Dakota Tom Daschle (D) South Dakota Phil Gramm (R) Texas James Jeffords (I) Vermont Craig Thomas (R) Wyoming Jon Kyl (R) Arizona Bob Graham (D) Florida John Breaux (D) Louisiana John Kerry (D) Massachusetts Max Baucus (D) Montana Jeff Bingaman (D) New Mexico Don Nickles (R) Oklahoma Fred Thompson (R) Tennessee Orrin Hatch (R) Utah John Rockefeller IV (D) West Virginia Short Sample Letter Date The Honorable (full name) United States Senate Washington, DC 20510 Dear Senator (last name): I urge you to vote no on S 1219. Incinerating animal waste is bad for public health and the environment. Research shows that nitrogen oxides, hydrogen chloride and mercury emissions from burning manure equal that of burning coal, and sulfur dioxide emissions are nearly equal that of coal. Furthermore, allowing hog and cattle farms to burn their waste will encourage increased production at these animal factories, which are already environmental hazards. Finally, the U.S. government should not be doling out corporate welfare to the hog/cattle farm industry. The tax credit would reduce income taxes for hog and cattle factories by hundreds of millions of dollars. Instead, federal funds should be directed to promoting renewable technologies like wind and solar, both of which are already adding income to existing farms. Yours truly, -=-=- Telephone: Call the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask for your Senator by name. To reach the Senate Finance Committee on the Internet go to www.senate.gov/~finance/