You've Heard Of Gas Taxes.....But Farmers Say This Is Ridiculous

Is the "cow tax" for real? Some New York farmers are "steamed", saying they can't afford it!

  Brunswick dairy farmer Ken Herrington's farm has been in the family for generations.  For the last few years, they've fought lower milk prices and high feed and fuel prices.  "We're running negative cash flow," says Herrington.

   That's why Herrington, like many other New York farmers, is up in arms about what the New York Farm Bureau calls a "cow tax".  There's concern that when a cow belches, methane gas is emitted, which could contribute to potential global warming.

   The Environmental Protection Agency is considering regulating greenhouse gases---like methane---through new permits.  The Farm Bureau says those permits are tantamount to a tax, that would cost dairymen like Herrington 175 dollars a head.

   "We have about 12 hundred cows on the farm," says Herrington.  So at 175 dollars a head? "That's a couple hundred thousand a year, " Herrington says.

    Herrington says the already beleaguered farm industry can't take a hit like that and keep going.  "If you threw this at us, I mean we're done.  This dairy here would be done."

   So, will the permits come to pass? Herrington says he doesn't know for sure but says he needs the public's help.

"They need to call their Congressman, their Senators, it's gotta stop. It's ridiculous," Herrington adds.

But CBS 6 News contacted the Environmental Protection Agency and its spokesman says there is "no cow tax".  He says that might be what the Farm Bureau is calling it but the EPA does not consider it as such.   He tells CBS 6 that it's "way too early" to know what decision on the permits might be made, and says the agency is still reviewing public comment on the matter.