You've heard the rumors that the Pentagon engineered 9/11. You know about the folks who think Barack Obama wasn't born in America. Last summer you learned every possible synonym for "death panel." But have you heard the one about the cow tax? Unless you're a farmer, probably not. This one goes back to the waning days of the Bush administration, when the EPA, after a long fight from environmentalists, grudgingly released a preliminary notice that outlined how the Clean Air Act could be used to control greenhouse gases. Buried deep in the document, on page 44,377 of that day's Federal Register to be exact, was a comment from the USDA warning that if the proposed rules were applied to the ag sector-which generates CO2 emissions in many ways, from cow burps to soil tillage-"even very small" farms might be affected. The American Farm Bureau Federation leaped into action: DC bureaucrats were proposing a cow tax! It could cost producers as much as $175 for each dairy cow! Farmers freaked out.

The Bush administration, of course, had no intention of regulating greenhouse gases via the Clean Air Act, let alone applying any such regs to farms. Neither does the Obama administration, which never viewed the Clean Air Act as anything other than a vague fallback threat to help gain support for its own climate bill. But the lesson from the cow-tax uprising was clear anyway: Don't ever, ever get crosswise with the ag lobby. They will sink you.

So when the Waxman-Markey climate bill was written, power plants were covered. Chemical factories were covered. Refineries were covered. But agriculture? Not covered. At all. Farms can emit greenhouse gases until sea levels have risen enough to give Iowans an ocean view and never pay a dime.

With agriculture fully exempt from emission caps, the farm lobby was happy. Right? Of course not. "It really has taken on a life of its own," Farm Bureau lobbyist Rick Krause told the AP in June-modestly understating his own role in spreading the cow-tax meme in the first place. "This is something that people understand. All that we have to say is that [cows] are the next step with these proposed permit fees. And people are still talking about it."  

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