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Floor Speech

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Mr. PADILLA. Madam President, I rise to introduce the Converting Our Waste Sustainably, COWS, Act of 2023. This legislation will help dairy and livestock producers reduce methane emissions, improve air and water quality, and implement more sustainable alternative manure management practices.

As the top dairy State in the country and the second in cheese production, California is the largest producer of milk, butter, and cheeses like mozzarella, Monterey Jack, and queso fresco. Dairy operations contribute billions of dollars to California's economy but are also responsible for 60 percent of California's methane emissions.

Recognizing the urgency of mitigating greenhouse gas emissions like methane, California and the dairy industry are on track to reduce dairy methane emissions by 40 percent by 2030 largely due to the successes of California's own Alternative Manure Management Program.

The COWS Act would establish an Alternative Manure Management Program to help dairy and livestock producers transition toward pasture-based management, alternative treatment and storage practices, solid separation systems, and scrape technologies.

This voluntary program, modeled after California's extremely successful Alternative Manure Management Program, will provide more resources for the dairy and livestock industry to modernize technologies for manure management that help boost profitability, improve water quality, and reduce methane and nitrogen oxide emissions by fostering climate-smart farming.

The bill also makes composting eligible for funding under the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and the Conservation Stewardship Program.

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural operations is critical to addressing the climate crisis. Because of the high construction and operation costs associated with anerobic digesters, nondigester manure management practices can provide a more cost- effective alternative for family dairy and livestock operators seeking to improve profitability while improving air and water quality for their communities.

I would like to thank my colleagues, Senators Brown and Heinrich, for their leadership in reducing agricultural methane emissions and Representative Costa for championing this bill in the House.

I look forward to working with my colleagues to pass the COWS Act as quickly as possible.

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