Montana rancher Mark Fix testified down in Denver yesterday (Tuesday) at a regional hearing about the need to address climate change in order to protect agriculture here in Montana.  The Tongue River Rancher & Past Chair of the Northern Plains Resource Council testified on the new EPA rules to curb carbon pollution 30% by 2030. During his testimony, Fix said, "Climate change alters the weather, & those of us in agriculture have to deal with the weather every day. The weather can make or break us. If we want agriculture as we know it to continue to thrive, it is an economic & cultural imperative to deal with climate change.": Fix was talking about recent extreme weather events in southeastern Montana, from tornadoes & storms to the 1.1. million-acre wildfires that ravaged the area in 2012. These events cost ranchers miles of fence, hundreds of livestock, & even some homes were lost. Fix said he has witnessed on his ranch this "globel weirding" of tornadoes, flooding, & other extreme weather. Fix said, "There's things out there we need to develop-the hydro, the wind, the solar, a lot of the renewables." He said the EPA rules are a "good step in the right direction."

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