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Raising A Real Stink.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand -- Farmers are mailing
parcels of sheep and cow manure to lawmakers to protest a so-called
"flatulence" tax that has been levied on greenhouse gas emissions from
their flocks and herds, the New Zealand's postal service complained.
The service said about 20 reeking packages and envelopes had been sent to
the nation's Parliament and that the protest, appropriately dubbed the
"Raise a Stink" campaign, was endangering the health of postal workers.
Farmers are angry that the government has elected to raise 8 million New
Zealand dollars ($4.7 million U.S.) a year - about 300 New Zealand dollars
($177) for average farms and ranches - for research into methane gas
emissions from agricultural animals.
Millions of sheep, cattle and other animals that graze on New Zealand's
lush farmlands are thought to produce 55 percent of the country's
greenhouse gases.
New Zealand Post spokesman Ian Long said sending manure by the mail was a
crime.
"Our main concern is for the health and safety of our people," said Long.
"The police have told us that they will prosecute if they can prove
wrongdoing."
Mail sorting workers were wearing protective gloves and placing suspect
parcels into bags, he said. The workers, needless to say, are not real
enamored with their jobs right now, since it's getting pretty crappy.
Parliamentary security officials said some stained and damp mail items had
been intercepted before they made it to government ministers.
Adam Fricker, editor of the Rural News newspaper which encouraged the
protest, said farmers had taken "radical" action to get the ear of the
government.
"Farmers feel marginalized. They don't have the voice in Parliament they
once had ... to really get traction on an issue when a ridiculous tax like
this is being foisted on them," he said.
Agriculture Minister Jim Sutton said climate change from greenhouse gases
"is the world's biggest environmental problem. We have to do something
about it."
Source: San Francisco Chronicle, "Farmers Think
'Flatulence' Tax Smells," July 17, 2003.
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