One of the persistent political folktales circulated by the likes of Mike Parry was that the EPA was going
to regulate farm field dust. With the agency's release of the final update on air quality standards, Bluestem doubts the anti-Obama faithful will stop trading this one in cafes and by beside campfires, since storytelling isn't grounded in the factual.
But we'll try once more to stand up for the facts of the matter.
Agri-Pulse's Sarah Gonzalez reports in EPA announces it will not tighten farm dust regulations:
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) updated its national clean air standards today without tightening “farm dust” standards."EPA's final decision today on national clean air standards will have no impact on farm dust from agricultural operations, as they have indicated for more than a year,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in response. “I commend EPA Administrator Jackson for her efforts to reach out to the agricultural community and to make it clear that EPA had no interest in regulating farm dust.”
Under the Clean Air Act (CAA), EPA is required to review its air quality standards every five years. According to EPA, a federal court required the agency to issue a final standard by December 14, because it did not meet its five-year legal deadline. In June, EPA proposed to retain the coarse particulate matter (PM-10) standard, and several farm groups submitted comments encouraging EPA to make that proposal final. . . .
. . .National Farmers Union (NFU) Vice President of Government Relations Chandler Goule said EPA’s announcement will allow the agriculture sector to “finally put this issue to rest.”
“There has been a lot of misinformation circulating about supposed regulatory overreach so this final rule will hopefully put to rest any remaining anxiety regarding ‘farm dust’ regulation by EPA,” he said. . . .
Don't we know it, Chandler! We'd posted about the malarkey in 2011's Emo Senator: battling phantom EPA dust menace key to Parry's totally straightforward campaign and this year's The Crisis (of credibility): Mike Parry discusses "common sense"; Tom Paine rolls over in grave and Mike Parry's other video: Waseca bullshitter repeats debunked EPA ag dust regulation canard.
So no: the dirty hippies at "Obama's EPA" aren't planning to regulate farm dust. Find another dust-up.
Minnesota Farmers Union President and former state representative Doug Peterson sent out this statement about the decision today:
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized an update to its national air quality standards for harmful fine particle pollution, and they ruled to not change the regulations on dust from farms and other sources.“Minnesota Farmers Union and National Farmers Union fought hard to make sure these dust regulations would not be changed and so we are pleased that the EPA came down on the side of common sense and decided to not regulate farm dust,” said Doug Peterson, Minnesota Farmers Union President.
Other common sense regulatory issues that Farmers Union fought for and won on the behalf of family farmers include: allowing for farm kids to continue to work on the farm; and country-of-origin-labeling (COOL) on food.
Photo: So not an EPA rule against this.
Blog begathon: Bluestem is supported by reader contributions. If you liked this post, consider throwing some coin to the tip jar. If you don't like using PayPal, email at the address on this page for a snail mail address. We'll be running our twice-yearly "bleg" though Christmas.
Blog begathon: Bluestem is supported by reader contributions. If you liked this post, consider throwing some coin to the tip jar. If you don't like using PayPal, email at the address on this page for a snail mail address. We'll be running our twice-yearly "bleg" though Christmas.
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