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Senate Waste Watchers Soldier On

Senate Waste Watchers Soldier On

By Matthew Fleming, CQ-Roll Call (TNS)

WASHINGTON — A dog-bite prevention website. Vermont puppet shows. Researching the bomb-sniffing capabilities of elephants.

Those are just some government spending projects labeled “wasteful” in this Congress by a crop of lawmakers who continue to take on the mantle of pork busters four years after Ohio Republican John A. Boehner banned earmarks after he took the speaker’s gavel in 2011.

Former Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) long the standard bearer of the waste-watching movement, told CQ Roll Call that despite the moratorium on traditional earmarks, billions are still spent on duplicative programs — what he considers the largest earmark.

“It’s great to bring it up and raise the issue, but if the issue is raised and nobody eliminates the problem that’s creating the waste, you haven’t done anything,” Coburn said. He’s now working to organize a convention of states to restrict the power of the federal government and is considering continuing his spending reports from outside the Capitol. “We’re talking about symptoms, but we’re not fixing the disease.”

There are four Republican waste watchers in the Senate carrying the torch and making Coburn “proud” these days: Arizona’s Jeff Flake and John McCain, Dan Coats of Indiana and Rand Paul of Kentucky.

Waste-report season is now in full bloom. Coats last week spoke on suspicious spending by defense contractors, while Flake released a dinosaur-themed report featuring legacy earmarks he dubbed “Jurassic Pork.”

For effect, Flake swept through the Senate Press Galleries distributing pork sandwiches to reporters. (He graciously offered chicken to those with an aversion to pork.) In May, McCain, Flake and Sen. Patrick J. Toomey of Pennsylvania appeared with “Pigfoot,” the mascot of Citizens Against Government Waste, to highlight their annual “Pig Book.”

This week, Paul took the role of Senate sommelier by highlighting grants for the Washington state wine industry, asking the question: What wine pairing goes best with waste?

And for the piscivore palate left unsatisfied by a diet of only wine and waste, McCain served the main course last month when he fought in vain to end a catfish-inspection program as an amendment to a trade bill.

(c)2015 CQ-Roll Call, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Photo: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

Ben Carson’s Looming Scandal: Porkgate

Ben Carson’s Looming Scandal: Porkgate

All eyes will be on Ben Carson on June 6, and whether he will either stomach or tactfully avoid the sweet taste of fresh pork.

The neurosurgeon and GOP presidential candidate has been invited to a fundraiser, hosted by Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, that will consist of a motorcycle ride and pig roast.

Now, what need concern Carson may not be the motorcycle ride from Des Moines to Boone. His real trial will come at the pig roast, when the nation — and Iowa Republicans — will meet the man who has written of his utter loathing for the other white meat, and the difficulties he has faced in the past when attempting to conceal his distaste for it.

Carson claims to have been a vegetarian for most of his life, but “out of consideration — in other words, to be nice — I have learned to eat chicken or turkey in situations where I cannot gracefully manage to have a vegetarian meal.”

In his self-help book for young people, You Have A Brain: A Teen’s Guide To T.H.I.N.K. B.I.G., Carson recounts an incident in which he attempted to avoid eating pork out of respect for decorum, but was found out:

My wife and I still laugh about the time we were invited to a small dinner party at the home of friends who had forgotten we were vegetarians. The main course that night happened to be pork chops with pineapple topping. I have never eaten pork, and among so few guests, I knew my avoidance of the entree would not go unnoticed. So I served myself rice and vegetables then scooped some of the pineapple onto my rice, hoping it might look as though a pork chop were lurking underneath there somewhere. I also hoped the hostess would not notice.

No such luck. Unfortunately, the flavor of the pork had soaked into the pineapple and made me so nauseated that I could not eat. When our hostess realized the problem, she was embarrassed anyway.

The so-called “Roast and Ride,” according to the AP, counts among its attendees Carson’s fellow Republican players, former Hewlitt-Packard executive Carly Fiorina, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.

Carson wouldn’t be the first Republican to have to genuflect to Iowa voters on the issue of pork. Chris Christie, the New Jersey governor who is a possible (though increasingly unlikely) Republican presidential candidate, vetoed a bill last November that would have outlawed pig crates considered inhumane — a move that was widely interpreted as a bid for Iowan support, and a successful one at that.

Whether Dr. Carson plans to swallow his pride (and pig) to curry Iowa’s favor remains to be seen. His campaign did not immediately return a request for comment.

Photo: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

Beef’s Environmental Costs Far Outweigh Poultry, Pork

Beef’s Environmental Costs Far Outweigh Poultry, Pork

Washington (AFP) – Beef is by far the most costly protein when it comes to the environmental damage wreaked by feeding and raising cattle, according to a study out Monday.

Beef requires 28 times more land than the average total needed to produce either dairy, eggs, poultry or pork, said the research in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Raising beef also requires 11 times more irrigation water than other proteins, according to researchers at Bard College in New York, Yale University in Connecticut and the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel.

Beef spews far more pollution into the environment, producing five times as many greenhouse gas emissions and six times the reactive nitrogen from fertilizer compared to the other proteins, the study found.

“Beef is consistently the least resource-efficient of the five animal categories,” said the study, which said on average beef was about 10 times as costly as other proteins.

Beef also makes up about seven percent of all consumed calories in the U.S. diet, it said.

To “most effectively” cut back on these environmental costs, the authors recommended “minimizing beef consumption.”

Raising livestock for food is a practice that contributes to one fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions, and also pollutes water and interferes with biodiversity, according to the study authors.

The study was based on a decade’s worth of data on land, irrigation water, and fertilizer from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Department of the Interior, and the Department of Energy.

Researchers used the 2000-2010 data to calculate the amount of resources needed to produce animal feed for each edible livestock.

About every ten calories fed to poultry or pork accounted for one calorie consumed by humans. This ratio was nearly four times higher for beef.

Poultry, pork, eggs and dairy all added up to similar costs across the board, while beef was consistently the outlier.

They did not include fish in their study due to lack of data on feed use and the relatively small portion of calories (0.5 percent) it makes up in the average American diet.

Representatives of the U.S. beef industry questioned the methodology of the study, and said environmental improvements have been made in recent years.

“The PNAS study represents a gross over-simplification of the complex systems that make up the beef value chain,” said Kim Stackhouse, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association director of sustainability research.

“The fact is the U.S. beef industry produces beef with lower greenhouse gas emissions than any other country.”

According to Amy Dickie, who led a study in April on agricultural strategies for cutting back on global warming, the findings are in line with recent research that has shown the high greehhouse gases involved in beef production.

“I am glad to see that the authors also considered water, nutrient, and land use which are all important resources and are intensively used by beef and dairy cattle,” said Dickie, who works for the consulting firm California Environmental Associates.

“This information needs to get into the public domain so that people understand the consequences of their diet choices.”

AFP Photo/Justin Sullivan

Chinese Pork Firm $5.3 Billion IPO Set To Be The Biggest In A Year

Chinese Pork Firm $5.3 Billion IPO Set To Be The Biggest In A Year

Hong Kong (AFP) – Chinese pork producer WH Group hopes to raise more than $5 billion in what would be the world’s biggest initial public offering for a year as it plans to list in Hong Kong, giving a boost to the city’s IPO market.

The company — which last year bought U.S. giant Smithfield Foods in a landmark multi-billion-dollar deal — will sell 3.66 billion shares at an indicative price range of HK$8.00-HK$11.25 each.

If the Henan-based firm, formerly known as Shuanghui International Holdings, sells its shares at the top end of the range, it would raise $5.3 billion. That would make it the largest IPO globally since Brazil’s BB Seguridade Participacoes SA raised $5.7 billion in April last year.

It would also be Hong Kong’s biggest since U.S. insurer AIA raised $20.5 billion in 2010. WH Group’s shares are expected to list on April 30, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

WH Group is the world’s largest pork company and is involved in the production, slaughter and distribution of the meat, a key ingredient in Chinese cuisine. It is also a shareholder of Spanish meat firm Campofrio Food, according to its website.

If demand is strong, the firm — whose shareholders include Goldman Sachs and Singapore’s state investment firm Temasek — also has an option to sell a further 20 percent more shares, which could boost the sale to $6.37 billion.

“It’s one of the largest (deals) in the world, it deserves some attention,” Tanrich Securities vice president Jackson Wong told AFP, adding that there was high demand when two other smaller pork producers listed in Hong Kong.

In May WH Group, under the Shuanghui name, agreed to buy Smithfield Foods in a deal valuing Smithfield at $7.1 billion, making it the largest ever Chinese acquisition of a U.S. company.

The IPO will be welcomed by Hong Kong’s exchange after Alibaba, the world’s largest online retailer, opted in March to list in New York instead following a disagreement over the type of stock it could issue.

Talks between the Internet giant and Hong Kong’s bourse broke down last year, in part because listing rules prevented Alibaba founder Jack Ma and senior management retaining some control over the board of directors.

The loss of the coveted deal was seen as a blow to Hong Kong’s efforts to maintain its appeal as a public listings destination, after being eclipsed by other bourses in 2012 as the world’s largest IPO venue.

“After Alibaba, the Hong Kong exchange really needed a boost in the form of WH Group,” Frances Lun, CEO of GEO Securities, told AFP.

Hong Kong was the world’s top IPO venue from 2009 to 2011 but has lost ground to competitors in recent years. However, it has seen a pick-up this year — especially for some less orthodox companies.

Magnum Entertainment, the first nightclub operator to list in Hong Kong, saw its HK$126 million IPO oversubscribed 3,500 times. Its share price soared 90 percent on the first day.

Fu Shou Yuan, the largest mainland Chinese funeral services provider, saw its December $215 million IPO oversubscribed by nearly 700 percent.

In January, a utility trust owned by Asia’s richest man Li Ka-shing, raised $3.11 billion but fell 2.02 percent on its debut.

©afp.com / Eric Piermont