Published: April 10, 2009 01:39 pm      

Environment America visits New Albany; presents report that says global warming will cost farmers

Group calls on Congress to quell carbon

A new report suggests that global warming could cost Indiana corn growers $98 million per year.

Nationwide damages to the United States’ No. 1 crop could total more than $1.4 billion annually.

Environment America — a national federation of statewide and citizen-based environmental advocacy groups — released the report. The organization held a press conference at New Albany’s Sam Peden Community Park on Thursday.

“Environment America expects these costs to go up unless Congress and the president take decisive action to repower America with clean energy and reduce global warming,” said Amelia Shenstone, field organizer for the group.

The report says although corn sees a minor benefit from higher carbon dioxide levels, the ideal temperature range for maximum corn yield is between 64 degrees and 74 degrees.

“As global warming increases temperatures, fields are becoming too hot to let corn reach its full production potential,” it says.

More destructive storms and a wider range of pest, weeds and diseases also are factors, according to the report.

The report draws on data from a 2008 study by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program, a collaboration of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and 12 other federal agencies. Environment America combined that data with economic numbers to get the estimated-cost impacts.

“The message of the report is clear: Corn likes it cool, but global warming is raising temperatures in Indiana and across the nation,” Shenstone said.

“Since the announcements regarding the federal stimulus package, there has been significant interest in our solar and wind energy systems,” said Jeremy Coxon, vice president of Floyds Knobs-based SunWind Power Systems Inc.

His company provides services and products such as solar panels and wind turbines for renewable energy in Kentucky and Indiana.

“Southern Indiana does indeed receive enough solar and wind energy to power an average farm operation, business or residence,” he said.

However, he added that the state lacks incentives and the configuration of electrical metering standards hinders growth of the industry.

The group called on Congress, including Rep. Baron Hill, D-Ind., to enact legislation that caps global warming pollution. A piece of legislation called the American Clean Energy and Security Act, which would require the nation to get 25 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2025, has been introduced in draft form to the House of Representatives’ Energy and Commerce Committee.

Hill is a member of that committee and is at the negotiating table working on the bill, said Katie Moreau, spokeswoman for Hill’s office.

“As such, we’re going to hold off commenting on the details of the legislation,” she said.

She also noted that addressing global warming was one of Hill’s key priorities, something he has repeatedly stated.



SEE IT ONLINE

• Check out Environment America’s report at newsandtribune.com



REPOWER AMERICA

Environment America believes the United States needs a bold, new energy plan that:

• Requires that America generate 100 percent of its electricity from clean sources such as wind and solar power;

• Cuts our dependence on oil in half; and

• Reduces heat-trapping global warming pollution 80 percent by 2050.

— Environment America



ANOTHER VIEW

• According to greenhouse physics, the effects of increases in greenhouse gases will be much more significant in the driest air. This occurs in the coldest regions — cold air is able to hold much less water, in the form of water vapor, than warm air . Temperature effects in tropical or mid-latitude regions and in summer are expected to be much less significant.

— International Climate and Environmental Change Assessment Project