The Protecting American Wilderness and Public Lands Act is a series of bills designed to protect certain lands. Collectively, the legislation would lock up 3 million acres and add 1,200 miles of river to the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. This bill just passed the House with the help of eight Republican votes.
How this bill will treat grazers is unclear as most legislation is. Congress leaves too much authority to the agency to promulgate the rules which usually go too far. The Biden administration wants to reach the goal of 30 percent of land and waters protected by 2030. We may already be close to that level right now. And they say the usual statements that the bill will protect wildlife habitat, help maintain air and water quality, store carbon, and safeguard communities against climate change. The bill also removes 1 million acres from new mining claims. Climate-friendly bills will be popular in this administration.
The administration seems set to support more recreation in these wild places. Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) proposed the Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy Act, which protects places where cattle don’t necessarily graze. However, I get the feeling the multiple-use mandate on public lands will start to lean towards recreation.
The bill must go through the Senate where things start to get serious. Whether the Senate has time to do it with other pressing items is the question. The Senate plans on another hearing with Rep. Deb Haaland (D-NM), who is poised to be the next secretary of Interior, and first Native American to hold a cabinet post. Senate Republicans are concerned about her views on energy extraction.
Then, Sen. John Thune (R-SD) pushes out a bill with Democratic support to eliminate the death tax, which will gain a lot of support from agriculture and small business. However, the Biden administration has had an eye on inheritance tax, and we’ve heard ideas like losing the step-up in basis on a property transfer and of course raising the tax and I’m sure they will mess with your exemptions.
But to have a piece of conservative legislation roll out amidst the wave of New Green Deal and climate change legislation is remarkable. The climate change ideology of this administration and Congress will be a heavy economic burden to an economy that was running wide open and wants to again.
The administration will be investing your money heavily on green energy infrastructure and anything that will reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
This is where the livestock industry comes in—the proven benefit of grazing livestock on these wild lands to reduce fine fuels and to store carbon. Ungrazed land doesn’t store much carbon or improve soil health. The process of “upcycling,” where cattle and sheep turn grass, a renewable resource, into protein then deposit nitrogen in their manure, which puts organic matter back into the soil, improving the land.
I have been told by my friends in Washington, D.C. that agencies are agreeing that grazing is part of the climate change solution. The amount of methane a cow produces is inconsequential. Methane is produced by organic decay—it’s a simple, repeatable, biological cycle.
We’re at a point in time where every representative in Congress is eager to produce new legislation. It comes out of committee, maybe gets to the floor for a vote, where it lives or dies. The Senate then gets its turn on making it law or not. In most cases the Senate never takes up the bill and it rolls over to the next Congress which must introduce it all over again.
The authors of many of these bad bills will try and sneak it in on some must-pass appropriations bill. Our cattle representation tries to do it all the time in the fall appropriations season.
Much like this $1.9 trillion stimulus package just approved without a single Republican vote. The fine print discloses many low spending priority pork projects, with less than 10 percent going to COVID-19 relief projects. This relief bill is nothing less that remarkable.
It’s beyond my rationale how our elected officials can go along with this kind of spending. I understand the packages from 2020 when folks lost jobs and the hospitality industry took it on the chin. It’s a sad day when politicians feel the need to take advantage of a crisis. Pray for spring rain. — PETE CROW
