Newsroom Home U.S. Rice Industry Praises Sen. Lincoln's Stand on Climate
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — January 25, 2010CONTACT: Reece Langley, (703) 236-1471, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it The USA Rice Federation today praised Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee Chairman Blanche L. Lincoln (D-AR) for backing legislation to stop the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from imposing new climate-change regulations and for her opposition to pending "cap-and-trade" legislation in Congress. "We applaud Chairman Lincoln for putting the American economy and jobs first in this debate,” said USA Rice Producers' Group Chairman Frank Rehermann. "While there are a number of questions surrounding the issue of climate change, there is absolutely no question about the severe impact that pending legislation and regulation would have on our economy and jobs." Climate-change legislation was approved last year by the U.S. House of Representatives but has since stalled in the U.S. Senate. Meanwhile, the EPA has signaled that it is prepared to unilaterally move ahead with climate-change regulations under existing law unless Congress acts. A bill offered by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), and co-sponsored by Sen. Lincoln, would prevent EPA from taking this action. "The U.S. rice industry is important to the economy and jobs of six states," USA Rice Federation Chairman Jamie Warshaw said. "Yet, all of the analysis indicates that pending climate-change efforts would deal a blow to rice production in our country, saddling producer and processor with new and unaffordable production cost increases even as competitors around the world go about business as usual." Lincoln's stand comes at a critical time. As chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, with shared jurisdiction over climate-change legislation, she has significant new muscle to flex on this issue. Lincoln has advocated a comprehensive energy bill to increase U.S. energy production, create jobs and clean the environment as a jobs-friendly alternative to "cap-and-trade." Other rice state senators sponsoring the resolution include, Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Thad Cochran (R-MS), David Vitter (R-LA), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), and Christopher "Kit" Bond (R-MO). "Chairman Lincoln is in the right place at the right time," USA Rice President and CEO Betsy Ward said. "And her partnering up with Republican Senators Saxby Chambliss and Lisa Murkowski provides strong, bi-partisan momentum in stopping efforts that threaten to undermine the American rice industry and our nation’s economy."—30— The USA Rice Federation is the global advocate for all segments of the U.S. rice industry with a mission to promote and protect the interests of producers, millers, merchants and allied businesses. |
