Senate ag chair Lincoln sees climate bill slog

By Charles Abbott

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate faces "a heavy lift" if it tries to pass a climate change bill this year, the new leader of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Blanche Lincoln, said on Wednesday.

Lincoln, a second-term Democrat from Arkansas, succeeds Tom Harkin of Iowa, an advocate of public nutrition and land stewardship programs. Lincoln is a staunch defender of crop subsidies and founder of a Senate group that focuses on hunger.

She will be the first woman to head the Agriculture Committee. Senate Democrats announced her selection after Harkin opted to become chairman of the Health Committee. The formalities of the turnover are expected to take a few days.

"All I'm saying is I think it (passage of a climate bill) is a heavy lift for the Senate" in a session filled with major legislation, she said.

The Obama administration has given priority to health care reform, climate change and financial regulatory reform. All those issues are within Agriculture Committee jurisdiction.

Climate change legislation "presents some issues for the farm community," said Lincoln.

American farmers are sure to face higher fuel, fertilizer and pesticide prices because of efforts to control greenhouse gas emissions, she said, but Southern growers would not have the opportunity to earn money for practices, like no-till farming, that lock carbon in the soil.

She said financial regulatory reform "is going to be a big thing on our plate," as well as trade negotiations, renewal of child nutrition programs and farm program rules.