The “Inflation Reduction Act” will provide $140 billion in agricultural “tax incentives, loans and grants” to promote energy. Environmentalists are not happy. Keith Schneider of the New York Times: “Despite pushback from environmental groups concerned about increased pollution from farm waste, developers across the country see opportunities to build ambitious renewable energy projects to convert…
Tag: Agriculture
What a Farmer Thinks about ‘Climate Solutions’
(Guest author Blake Hurst raises soybeans, corn, and greenhouse crops on his family farm in Tarkio, Missouri.)
Nestled among all the other items in the optimistically named Inflation Reduction Act are 369 billion of your dollars to encourage “climate solutions and environmental justice.” I’ll leave it to readers to imagine what environmental justice might look like, but I’m pretty sure that whatever portion of the 369 billion is spent on environmental justice it won’t be enough.
Paul Ehrlich’s Errors Go Unexamined, Except by Realists
Remember Paul Ehrlich? In 1968 the Stanford biologist predicted that the world would experience global famine because of overpopulation. It didn’t happen, but Ehrlich is still the darling of environmentalists and media that want to sound “woke.” On Jan. 1 Paul Ehrlich was featured on CBS’s 60 Minutes for his insights into the future state…
Climate Change Policies on the Farm: ‘Excessive Spending in a Shotgun Approach’
Did you know that the recently passed IRA (“Inflation Reduction Act”) authorizes nearly $38 billion for agriculture, much of it to address climate change? (Keep in mind that the next farm bill, to be enacted in 2023, will also authorize billions for ag—$428 billion in the 2018 act.) The farm provisions of the IRA will…
Behind the Turmoil in Sri Lanka: Government Ban on Synthetic Fertilizers and Pesticides
Sri Lanka, the island country off the coast of India, is in political turmoil and the president says he will resign. A big factor in the tragedy is the country’s “going green,” banning synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. Aljazeera reports: “President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s drive to make the country the world’s first to fully adopt organic agriculture—by…
Big Wind and Solar Companies Using ‘Hardball Legal Tactics’
Should rural communities be able to limit the number of wind and solar projects in their regions? Or do the renewable companies have a legal right to put turbines and solar panels on any property they can buy? Complicating the issue is the fact that many renewable projects would not be built without billions of…