CNS News reported today that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has awarded $17.4 million for pilot projects that will begin exploring how to establish a market for greenhouse gas (GHG) credits, a key component of a cap and trade system, to help reduce carbon and other emissions that apparently contribute to global warming.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack stated that the projects were the beginnings of establishing an American Carbon Market.
The money is part of the Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG) program that is supposed to encourage innovation in environmental technology and business.
The article states:
"In other words, the CIG grants fund projects that attempt to measure the quantity of GHGs that are saved - by not farming rural land, for example - and how those savings affect the value of the offsets - how many GHG credits a particular action is worth.
"In a cap and trade system, farmers, ranchers, and other agriculture producers theoretically stand to make money by selling credits to other, GHG-intense businesses such as manufacturers and power companies.
"Among the projects being funded is a $1 million program across eight states to show that beef and dairy farmers can be incentivized to change how they handle animal feeding and manure to produce less methane emissions."
It might be a good time to mention that cap and trade legislature has never been appoved by Congress. It also should be mentioned at this time that America is scheduled to run out of money some time in August. This is an expenditure the House of Representatives should block. It is neither helpful nor has it been voted into law.
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