Worried that the Environmental Protection Agency will crackdown on dusty farms, 21 senators from farm-heavy states have asked EPA not to tighten federal standards for coarse particulate matter. In a letter the senators said that if EPA follows through on a scientific advisory panel's recommendation to impose tougher standards farmers would face "the most stringent and unparalleled regulation of dust in our nation's history," Gabriel Nelson of Environment & Energy Daily reports. "The dust kicked up by agricultural operations is subject to the same air-quality rules as particulates from automotive tailpipes and coal-burning power plants," Nelson writes.
"We all want a clean and healthy environment, but it defies common sense to mandate that farmers keep dust between their fence rows when combining, or that the county government keep gravel dust on the road," Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, who is a farmer and spearheaded the letter, said in a statement."In a draft policy assessment published earlier this month, EPA scientists said the agency would be justified in 'retaining or revising' standards for the type of coarse dust commonly produced by farming operations," Nelson writes. EPA is expected to complete its review of particulate matter standards by late next year. (Read more, subscription required)
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