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Comment 11 for Agriculture Comments for the GHG Scoping Plan (sp-agriculture-ws) - 1st Workshop.


First Name: Karen
Last Name: Del Compare
Email Address: kdcyew@excite.com
Affiliation:

Subject: Agriculture and AB 32
Comment:
While I support the goals of AB 32, I strongly disagree with the
methods to decrease Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions from
Agriculture.

1. Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) are a danger to the
environment and should not receive any subsidies and assistance. 
According to the Draft Scoping Plan Appendices, “Economic
incentives such as marketable emission reduction credits,
favorable utility contracts, or renewable energy incentives will
be key to early implementation.”  CAFOs must be required to clean
up their pollution with their own funding, including the capturing
of their methane releases.  In deciding whether to provide
financial assistance to CAFOs, the California Air Resources Board
(CARB) needs to consider all the negative effects of such
operations which include water and air pollution, lower property
values for rural communities, the cost of antibiotics and the
associated antibiotic resistance that comes with excessive use of
these medications.  Antibiotic resistance is especially important
as it makes human diseases much more difficult to treat.  In
addition, manure pits are a hazard to farm workers and have caused
numerous fatalities.

2. Your scoping document does not mention the benefits of eating
locally.  This would decrease transportation emissions as well as
support our local economy in California.  Please consider
supporting Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) and local
farmers’ markets and promote education to discourage the
consumption of imported produce.

3. Your educational efforts should include health benefits as well
as the decreased GHG emissions associated with eating a plant based
diet.

4. Pesticides are primarily petroleum based.  Organic farming
methods to decrease their use must be encouraged.  Education
should be provided to farmers on how to change from conventional
farming to organic.  Subsidies should be provided to organic
farmers as needed to provide incentives for this change.

5. Industrial fertilizers are typically produced using natural
gas. Organic farming methods can also decrease emissions related
to fertilization.

6. Please study and include in your analysis the benefits of
pasture produced meat and dairy products vs. those from CAFOs.
This analysis should include health benefits as well as GHG
emissions. According to a report from the Union of Concerned
Scientists, “Healthy pastures are also less susceptible to
erosion, can capture more heat-trapping carbon dioxide than feed
crops, and absorb more of the nutrients applied to them, thereby
contributing less to water pollution. Furthermore, the manure
deposits by animals onto pasture produces about six to nine times
less volatilized ammonia – an important air pollutant – than
surface applied manure from CAFO’s.” 

7. Biofuels will most likely NOT be the answer to our energy
crisis.  The amount of nitrogen based fertilizers and petroleum
based pesticides used for most crops negates the energy that
biofuels ultimately deliver.  Burning pesticide laden crops can
also add to hazardous air pollutants released into the air.   Soil
degradation and water pollution from nitrogen and pesticide runoff
must also be considered.  Increases in the price of food from
converting farmland to fuel production must also be considered.  

8. CARB should evaluate water consumption for different crops and
in different regions.  It makes no sense to farm water intensive
crops in desert-like regions of California when other more arid
crops can be planted.  

9. Small farms and integrated crop livestock operations can form
energy exchange systems which are successful with very little
fossil fuel input.  Please look at the link to the Rodale
Institure for more information on how organic farming can decrease
global warming.  This should be the focus of CARB’s research and
subsidies to farmers.


References:

“CAFOs Uncovered:  The Untold Costs of Confined Animal Feeding
Operations” from the Union of Concerned Scientists, April 2008.
http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_environment/sustainable_food/cafos-uncovered.html

“Putting Meat on the Table: Industrial Farm Animal Production in
America” A Report of the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal
Production
http://www.pewtrusts.org/our_work_report_detail.aspx?id=38442

"Climate Change Solution" by Rodale Institute
http://www.rodaleinstitute.org/20080425/gw6

http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_environment/sustainable_food/greener-pastures.html

“Leaping Before They Looked:  Lessons from Europe’s Experience
with the 2003 Biofuels Directive” from the Clean Air Task Force,
October 2007
http://www.catf.us/publications/reports/Leaping_Before_They_Looked.pdf

Diet, Energy and Global Warming
http://geosci.uchicago.edu/~gidon/papers/nutri/nutriEI.pdf

"Facts about Pollution from Livestock Farms" from NRDC
http://www.nrdc.org/water/pollution/ffarms.asp

"Preventing Deaths of Farm Workers in Manure Pits" from Center for
Disease Control and Prevention, May 1990.
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/90-103.html

http://articles.latimes.com/2006/jul/14/local/me-sbriefs14.1

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4176/is_20040922/ai_n14585680

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/06/09/farm/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/03/AR2007070302136.html

http://www.health.state.ny.us/environmental/investigations/face/docs/04ny010.pdf

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11720746/

http://www.public-health.uiowa.edu/face/Reports/PDF-Reports/Manure%20Pit%20Agitation.pdf

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4188/is_20080119/ai_n21210257




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Date and Time Comment Was Submitted: 2008-07-31 10:18:46



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