Climate Bill Fallout & Fires Easily Avoided

Climate Bill Fallout & Fires Easily Avoided plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report. 

Ag lawmakers waged a stiff fight against climate change legislation Friday - with the final vote 219 to 212 on the controversial measure. The Senate is expected to consider its own bill later this year. While House Democrats argue the bill will finally address climate change and create millions of green jobs - Republicans and some rural Democrats say it will kill millions of jobs on the farm and in the city by raising the cost of all energy by taxing carbon pollution. House Ag Ranking Member Frank Lucas.

LUCAS: Agriculture sets squarely in the crosshairs of this bill because it’s energy intensive. Whether it’s the fuel for the tractor, the fertilizer for the crops or the delivery of the food to the grocery store agriculture uses a great deal of energy throughout production and processing.

Several grass fires spread rapidly across the Treasure Valley on Saturday. Most of them were human-caused blazes, which firefighters say could have been avoided. The three fires had several things in common: all of them threatened buildings, are believed to be human caused and spread quickly. At this point no one is facing any charges in any of these fires. Officials across the northwest are urging everyone to use extreme caution this coming 4^th of July weekend.

Now with today’s Food Forethought, here’s Lacy Gray.

My sister and I have both moved over a thousand miles away in opposite directions from our hometown. Several years back the family farm had to be sold as there was no one left in the area that could take over its operation. This farm, consisting of quite a large acreage, fishing pond and a hill that overlooked the surrounding area, had been in the family for over one hundred years and had weathered everything from Kansas tornados to the Klu Klux Klan. Needless to say it was extremely hard for my sister and I to see the farm pass out of the family’s hands; tears were shed aplenty. Thankfully the person that bought the farm stated they would not be selling it off into sections which would eventually end up as cookie cutter suburbs; instead he intended to preserve and restore the farm to its former glory. He has remained true to his word, to the point of returning the large farm house which once had a wrap around porch to its original design. While life’s commitments don’t allow my sister and I to visit the family farm as often as we would like, it’s comforting to know that it will still be there to visit when we can get away. Until then, it’s never far away in heart.

Thanks Lacy. That’s today’s Northwest Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.