A story in your May 28 issue provides another example of the federal government’s waste of taxpayers’ dollars. The story tells of an Environmental Protection Agency grant of a $500,000 for research on methane emissions by range cattle when they burp.
Cattle production is simply an insignificant source of methane production. First, note that there is increasing evidence that global warming is not really occurring. Dennis Avery, director of global issues for the Hudson Institute, cites a Gallup survey of climatologists indicating that by far most climatologists do not believe that human activity, including agriculture, has affected global temperatures in any way.
Cattle are not a significant factor in greenhouse gas production. An analysis by Texas A&M University scientists indicates that methane represents only 18 percent of the world’s potential greenhouse gases and that only 7 percent of the world’s methane production is attributable to cattle. Beef cattle in the U.S. account for only 0.5 percent of world methane production and only 0.1 percent of total greenhouse gases.
Dr. Floyd Byers, Texas A&M University, pointed out that a 12-mile round trip in a car to buy a burger results in 100 times more greenhouse gas than production of the burger. It’s time to focus on whether there really is a global warming problem and, if there is, on real causes.
