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UNCOMMON GROUND MIKE JOPEK GET REAL ABOUT FOOD
GUEST COLUMN RYAN ZINKE
MONTANA COAL WORKERS LDESERVE A FIGHTING CHANCE
AST WEEK, I INTRODUCED LEG- by creating too much uncertainty.” islation that would stop the Montana is estimated to have more Department of the Interior (DOI) than 25 percent of America’s recover-
IT’S BEEN FIVE YEARS SINCE Congress passed the Food Safety and Modernization Act, which was hailed as the biggest food law in decades. The law languishes in federal agencies await- ing implementation.
Sen. Jon Tester previously amended the FSMA to exempt most small Amer- ican farmers who sell directly to consumers.
President Barack Obama requested over $100 million in funding from Con- gress to implement the law by next year, but that’s a tall request given the chilly relationship the two bodies of govern- ment enjoy.
Policing a global food industry is no small task and will require more federal
the nutrition labels featured on the more than 700,000 food products available throughout the nation.
The Center of Disease Control ear- lier said that obesity in the 2- to 5-year- old age group had fallen over 40 percent. Given that food-related diseases like heart disease, diabetes and obesity cost the county over $150 billion annually, there is much more work ahead to pro- mote healthier eating.
The recent bird flu that killed a his- toric 50 million poultry in a matter of months and drove egg prices through the henhouse roof demonstrated that it’s time the feds act aggressively to protect consumers and the industry.
There is much speculation about how the bird flu rapidly spread
from enacting another cumbersome rule that would change the way coal is valued when mined from public land. The end result would be increased uncertainty for an industry that is constantly bat- tling this administration’s war on fos- sil fuels. There has been a lot of misin- formation about this issue and I wanted to set the record straight because Mon- tana coal workers and the Crow Nation deserve a fighting chance.
Currently coal is valued (for royalty purposes) when it’s sold, however the new rule would value it based on when it’s turned into electricity. This could not only cause long gaps but also create huge levels of uncertainty because util- ity rates fluctuate so much. This may seem like a small change in the process, but it would have huge repercussions in Montana, especially counties supported by mines like Big Horn, Yellowstone and Musselshell, as well as the Crow Nation. By blocking this new rule from going into effect, the amendment will prevent uncertainty from taking over the mar- ket, which would lead to fewer jobs and less revenue for local governments who collect royalties.
Opponents who don’t understand the issue argue this is a tax break for coal companies and that it would reduce rev- enues for local governments. This could not be farther from the truth. In fact, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office determined the rule to be deficit neutral. And a group of bipartisan local governments and stakeholders oppose the change because it would kill jobs and put royalty and tax revenues in jeopardy.
In a letter to the DOI, the Yellowstone County Board of Commissioners wrote: “... it is our understanding that the rule creates more uncertainty and complex- ity, which could lead to reduced pro- duction and thus a decrease in royalty and tax revenues, impacting our county directly... The uncertainty created by this expansion of power also threatens to lower production.”
And Gov. Steve Bullock agrees, writ- ing: “Coal production is an important part of the Montana economy, as well as that of the Crow Nation. We benefit not only from our share of the royalty pay- ments, but also from the associated jobs, economic development, and tax revenues ... These provisions, which provide broad discretion to retroactively set federal coal royalties, coupled with an unreason- able and unacceptable lag in the timing of royalty audits (sometimes as long as eight years), could stifle new investment
able coal reserves. Yet, the Crow People suffer from unemployment rates as high as 50 percent – despite having over a bil- lion dollars in coal on their own land. Similar situations play out in commu- nities across America. In the words of Crow Chairman Old Coyote, “A war on coal is a war on the Crow people.”
Republicans and Democrats agree – we all want clean air and water and affordable power. Thankfully, advances in clean-coal technology have made it possible to have both, allowing us to use our vast reserves to power American homes and our industrial complex. We can’t power the economy on pixie dust and hope; it takes innovation and invest- ment in areas like clean coal. Unfortu- nately, this Administration is fighting a more aggressive war against American coal than it is against ISIS.
We all know of the countless attempts to kill coal with regulations, cap-and- trade and carbon taxes. The DOI’s ill-conceived plan is just the latest exam- ple that will create an unpredictable and unstable market that threatens the live- lihoods of our local communities and tribes. I have no doubt that if the DOI progresses with their plan, it will result in massive job loss for Montana. I find that unacceptable when the opportunity for growth is so great.
The national labor participation rate is the lowest it has been in the past 30 years. Wages are stagnant, the cost of living is going up, and energy prices for home heating and manufacturing are skyrocketing. Our communities cannot afford another federal assault on the economy.
These are real jobs at stake. I’ve been to the Rosebud mine in Colstrip where International Union of Operating Engi- neers Local 400 earn their paychecks to provide for their families. Across our state, more than 1,200 Montanans are employed in the coal industry.
Coal remains Montana’s and our nation’s largest source of electricity because it is affordable and readily avail- able. Whether the coal is mined in Mon- tana or turned into electricity to build cars in Michigan, coal is an important part of the American economy.
In the words of Chairman Old Coy- ote: “For the Crow people, there are no jobs that compare to a coal job – the wages and benefits exceed anything else that is available.” I will continue to defend Montana coal workers as long as I represent them and their families in Congress.
“IF CONGRESS WANTS TO TRANSFORM THE FARM BILL INTO A FOOD BILL, IT MUST FOCUS ON CROPS.”
from state to state but not many mentioned how most poultry are packed into small confined cages during egg production. No amount of antibiotic-laced feed will cure the overcrowding situ- ation, which also plagues the swine industry.
The last Farm Bill refused to stipulate that California’s state law mandating room- ier hen cages was illegal, yet
workers to inspect the massive agribusi- ness. The U.S. has just over a thousand inspectors for the nearly 400,000 domes- tic and foreign facilities that supply food. Compare that to the 6,000 meat facilities that each has an inspector.
Needless to say, modernizing the food business is a massive endeavor.
Rep. Ryan Zinke cosponsored a bill that bans the right of states to label GMO foods and preempts state regula- tion of bioengineered organisms. The bill quickly passed out of committee in route to a U.S. House floor vote.
This month Obama issued an exec- utive order to modernize how bioengi- neered foods are approved. The White House ordered that three federal agen- cies work together to update their inter- nal systems of regulations and stream- line the effort to assure the safety bio- tech foods.
Obama’s order will attempt to work on issues like cloned milk and meat prod- ucts, gene editing, yet put most proce- dural focus on food crops that have been engineered to tolerate weed killers.
Earlier this year, Michelle Obama announced new food labels in a fight against obesity. The hope is to revamp
lawsuits from Midwestern states were quick to materialize.
The Farm Bill is headed for the next update in the coming years. Perhaps Congress will smarten-up and stop sub- sidizing crops that contribute to sickness like tobacco, and put more focus onto healthy eating crops produced by Amer- ican farmers.
If Congress wants to transform the Farm Bill into a food bill, it must focus on crops, which every reasonable nutri- tionist says a person should eat more of: vegetables and fruits.
Farmers like myself are still awaiting the same big-weather insurance protec- tion offered to farmers who grow crops like sugar or cotton. Chaotic weather is a real problem that affects the nation’s food supply. With record heat and drought, simply sprouting seeds in hot ground can be problematic.
The next Farm Bill should put some research into organic seed and meat development to cope with the hotter planet, invest in technology like drip irri- gation and planters’ paper, and continue the advancements that puts public infra- structure into communities to help move local foods from farm to consumer.
Mike (Uncommon Ground) Jopek and Dave (Closing Range) Skinner often fall on opposite sides of the fence when it comes to political and outdoor issues. Their columns alternate each week in the Flathead Beacon.
Ryan Zinke is a U.S. congressman from Whitefish.
JULY 22, 2015 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM
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