For years, environmental extremist bureaucrats have created economy-crushing rules by claiming life-essential carbon dioxide is a pollutant.
Mercifully, the Supreme Court slammed a flaming stake into the heart of Biden’s plans to use the Environmental Protection Agency to enact the “Green New Deal” without going through the proper legislative process.
However, there is troubling news from the Netherlands about another life-essential chemical being smeared: Nitrogen.
Thousands of farmers were gathering in a village near the centre of the Netherlands on Wednesday to protest a government plan to curb nitrogen pollution, many travelling by tractor from all corners of the country and snarling traffic.The protest in Stroe, 70 kilometres east of Amsterdam, follows the introduction last week of targets for reducing pollution by harmful nitrogen compounds in some areas by up to 70% by 2030 – the latest attempt to solve a problem that has plagued the country for years. read moreReductions are necessary in emissions of nitrogen oxides from farm animal manure and use of ammonia for fertilisation, the government says. Nitrogen oxides in the atmosphere help form acid rain, while fertiliser washed into lakes can cause algal blooms that kill marine life.Farmers argue the targets are poorly conceived and unfair. They are expected to lead to a 30% reduction in the number of Dutch livestock, with effects more concentrated in agricultural areas bordering nature preserves.
The restrictions have arisen because Dutch regulators have decided to create unreasonable emissions targets and force the agricultural industry to meet them.
The Dutch governing coalition has mandated reductions in emissions of nitrogen oxides and ammonia of up to 70% in many areas of the country close to protected nature areas – even reaching as high as 95% in some places. The government has been forced to act after courts in recent years began blocking permits for infrastructure and housing projects because the country was missing its emissions targets.The government has earmarked an extra 24.3 billion euros ($25.6 billion) to finance agricultural reforms that will likely make many farmers drastically reduce their number of livestock or to get rid of them altogether.The pollution reduction targets, which have to be achieved by provincial governments, have been opposed even by members of Prime Minister Mark Rutte´s own party and other members of his coalition. Provincial governments have been given a year to formulate plans to meet the targets.
The farmers are right to be worried. In fact, anyone who likes to eat regularly should be deeply concerned about the load of regulatory nonsense that has just been dumped on Dutch agriculture.
With over 50,000 farmers and millions of animals occupying the Netherlands, many are now facing shutdowns. New regulations may force farmers to cut production and herd numbers by up to 30 percent to meet emission requirements by the state.The government is slated to cut nitrogen oxide and ammonia by 50 percent by 2030 and has already allocated €25 billion to assist in shifting farms to meet new requirements. The government in the past has called on farmers to use feed for their animals that contains less protein as a way of reducing ammonia emissions….“I don’t think I have a future in farming because we must reduce our cattle by 70 percent. With only 80 cows, this won’t be profitable, so we will have to close,” Jessee Baars, a young Dutch dairy farmer, told France 24.
The Dutch are the second-largest exporter of agricultural commodities behind the United States. If the Dutch farmers are forced to comply with this insanity, then the chances of regional and global food scarcity crises increase substantially.
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