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NCBA: Green New Deal lacks information, would impact ag

The head of government affairs for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association says the lack of detail in the Green New Deal is a concern. 

Colin Woodall says it’s
unclear the direct impact the proposal would have on animal agriculture.  

“When you talk about the sweeping changes that they intend to enact, including the elimination of greenhouse gases, you would have thought that more effort would have been put towards  trying to understand what that would cost, how it would be achieved, and ultimately what the impact would be on every American,” he says.

He tells Brownfield U.S.
beef producers are committed to sustainability.

“We are only two percent of the greenhouse gases in the United States, that is not very much at all,” he says. “So, to think that by eliminating the consumption of beef is going to solve any climate change issues is just a misnomer.”

Woodall says the NCBA has
released a set of cost-benefit principles to help guide the discussion when it
comes to climate change policy proposals.

He says, in the case of the
Green New Deal, NCBA would like to know how much policy changes would cost tax
payers, how much greenhouse gas emissions they intend to reduce, and if the
goal is reduced consumption of beef then how they intend to find the land to
offset the protein that beef producers provide.

The Green New Deal resolution was drafted by a group of Democrats in Congress led by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortes, New York and Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts.

Audio: Colin Woodall, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association