WASHINGTON — Aside from beef and milk, cows make a lot of something else: methane.

Which is why if the Environmental Protection Agency comes to regulate greenhouse gasses, cattle farms could be subjected to new permits and fees — a separate field where farmers would have to watch where their step, if you will.

A bill introduced today by Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., that would prevent the EPA from regulating farms under the Clean Air Act gained immediate support from the American Farm Bureau Federation, which includes many Missouri and Illinois producers.

The bureau estimated that fees from regulations could reach $175 per dairy cow, $87 per beef cow and $21 for a hog. The price from this “cow tax” could pile up in Missouri,  the sixth largest cattle producer in the country.

“The concerns farmers raised are real,” Farm Bureau President Bob Stallman wrote in a letter of support to the two senators. “They are all the more pressing now as the agency is reportedly looking at potentially regulating greenhouse gasses under the Clean Air Act.”

Global warming regulations are still a long way from being implemented and this bill would only apply to the Clean Air Act. Some officials have supported making new legislation to regulate greenhouse gasses rather than amending the Clean Air Act.