Editorial: EPA dust proposals would pinch farm country

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Link to Inhofe EPW Press Blog The Oklahoman CNS NEWS: EPA's Own Estimates Say Greenhouse Gas Regs Could 'Slow Construction Nationwide for Years' A draft assessment by the Environmental Protection Agency that could lead to regulations on pesticides, herbicides, farm dust and other items suggests a fundamental question: Do these Washington bureaucrats know anything about farm country? The EPA has hired 23 independent scientists to see how much dust and other material is floating in the air, with an eye on stricter rules for airborne particulate matter. EPA is looking at replacing the current standard of 150 micrograms per cubic meter with a standard of between 65 and 85 micrograms per cubic meter - essentially cutting in half the amount of particulate matter allowed in the air. Members of Oklahoma's congressional delegation believe this would be especially devastating in farming areas. Last week Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Tulsa, and Rep. Frank Lucas, R-Cheyenne, called the proposals job killers. They also don't pass the good-sense test. "We are talking about dust kicked up by tilling fields and harvesting crops, cattle movements and pickups driving down dirt roads," the National Cattlemen's Beef Association's Tamara Thies told The Oklahoman. "For agriculture, the current standard is already very difficult and costly to meet; doubling it would be virtually impossible." Some suggest spraying water to control dust, which would be expensively wasteful, or using low- or no-till techniques. Many farmers already use those methods. "If EPA is allowed to continue down this path," Lucas said, "the only choice for many farmers and ranchers will be to stop farming altogether." Surely that's not EPA's aim. But sometimes you wonder.

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