Carbon pipeline regulation, trophy hunting, and a CAFO ban are on November ballot
A "voter veto" of a state law regulating carbon dioxide pipelines is on the general election ballot in South Dakota and residents of Sonoma County, in California's wine country, will decide on Nov. 5 whether to ban large-scale livestock farms. The handful of state and local referendums across the nation that involve agriculture also include a vote whether to ban slaughterhouses in Denver.
Report: An ‘interventionist’ approach is needed to decarbonize agriculture
Congress should double agricultural research funding, now running at $4 billion a year, and direct the Agriculture Department to take a "more interventionist" role in decarbonizing agriculture, said a California think tank on Monday. (No paywall)
Proposal would open door to carbon storage on Forest Service land
The U.S. Forest Service proposed a change in regulations on Monday that would allow it to consider requests to inject carbon dioxide beneath the 193 million acres of national forests and grasslands. Carbon sequestration is a key element in President Biden's goal of net-zero U.S. emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050.
DOE official: Carbon capture is key element in U.S. net-zero goal
Now an infant industry, carbon capture will play a significant role in achieving President Biden’s goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, said administration officials on Thursday. Senators from coal and gas states said the administration, after including incentives in the 2022 climate law, should unleash carbon capture projects.
Navigator cancels Midwest carbon pipeline
Navigator CO2 said it canceled its 1,350-mile carbon pipeline because of "unpredictable ... regulatory and government processes" in the five Midwestern states the pipeline would cross. The Heartland Greenway pipeline was among three projects proposed to capture carbon dioxide, mainly from ethanol plants, and transport it through pipelines for injection thousands of feet underground.
Aided by grassland signup, Conservation Reserve reaches enrollment limit
For the first time in more than a decade, the Conservation Reserve, which pays landowners an annual rent in exchange for taking fragile cropland out of production, is full, thanks to surging interest in the Grassland CRP option, said the Agriculture Department on Wednesday. Grasslands will become the largest element in the reserve, with more than 9 million acres enrolled in the year ahead.
Carbon contracts don’t pay enough, large-farm survey finds
Comparatively few farmers are actively considering a carbon contract and the vast majority of them want a higher payment per acre than was being offered, said the monthly Ag Economy Barometer on Tuesday. Growers commonly said they were offered $10-$30 for each tonne of carbon sequestered through farming practices, a fraction of what they desire.
Second company seeks Iowa permit to build a carbon capture pipeline
A Texas-based company filed for a permit with the Iowa Utilities Board on Tuesday to build a 900-mile pipeline across the state to transport liquefied carbon dioxide, collected from the smokestacks of ethanol refineries, to Illinois, where it would be sequestered underground.