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Bloomberg News Service
''It is critical that the new 2002 farm bill make a major new
commitment to providing livestock producers'' with money to meet
more stringent rules curbing animal-waste runoff to reduce pollution
in streams, lakes and rivers, Davis said.
A 10-year, $168 billion farm bill proposed in the House would
provide about $1.2 billion each year, or $12 billion over 10 years, to
help reduce pollution, though it would be divided between crop and
livestock farmers. That may not be enough, Davis said. The Senate
hasn't yet drafted a farm bill. The current farm law expires next
year.
''Livestock producers in several states face, or will soon face,
costly environmental regulations as a result of state or federal law
designed to protect water quality,'' Davis said.
These laws include the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act.
States considering tougher anti-pollution requirements are
Alabama, California, Iowa, Maryland, New York, North Carolina,
Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington and
Wisconsin.
Davis told the Senate panel that more than $12.2 billion is needed
over the next decade to meet requirements faced by the livestock,
hog and poultry industries.
It may cost about $9.8 billion over 10 years to build manure storage
pits, lagoons or other structures to reduce manure pollution, and
another $2.4 billion over the same period to maintain them, Davis
said.
Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin, Democrat of
Iowa, said the government should help the livestock industry pay
for measures to reduce pollution.
''However, we must be careful to not go down the road of
subsidizing large livestock operations unfairly or financing
technologies -- such as manure lagoons -- that soon should be
obsolete.'' Harkin said in a statement.
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