Panel includes airborne particulates from
strip mining as "farm dust."
Never satisfied with taking action that people across the political spectrum might view as reasonable, the Republicans (with three Democrats' help) have shown their loyalty to the corporate agenda once again.
This time, the culprit is what for most people constitutes an obscure piece of legislation, HR 1633, the Farm Dust Regulation Prevention Act. The GOP-dominated House Energy and Commerce Committee voted 33-16 Wednesday on the bill, whose ostensible reason for being introduced is to keep the Environmental Protection Agency from ramping up regulations of "farm dust." But that, as Brad Johnson points out, is just a shell game.
The panel's additions of toxic dust from open-pit mining and other industrial uses to the list that would be barred from EPA oversight offer yet another proof of GOP allegiance to those who think the agency was a bad idea from the get-go.
Speculation among affected parties had been running high since early this year that the EPA was going to toughen farm-dust regulations that have been on the books since 1987. A reassessment of the regulations is required every five years, and that is exactly what the agency was doing. But when EPA staff in its review recommended "maintaining or tightening" the regulations, it caught the eye of farm-state Congresspeople. Republicans already eager to eviscerate EPA authority on a range of issues decided to make hay over that "threat."
For their part farm advocacy groups made a point of claiming new regulations might affect dust made airborne by harvesting combines, plows or even driving on gravel roads. They sought to have farmers exempted from any new or stiffened old regulations. After enduring months of attacks over the issue, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson wrote a letter to Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D.-Mich.) six weeks ago:
“Based on my consideration of the scientific record, analysis provided by EPA scientists, and advice from the Clean Air Science Advisory Council, I am prepared to impose the retention—with no revision—of the current [coarse particulate matter] standard and form when it is sent to OMB for interagency review.”
If the bellyaching about the possibility of stricter regulations over actual farm dust had been the issue, that should have ended the matter. But there was a broader agenda. So now we have a bill that would preclude new regulations of some heavy polluters whose only connection to farming is what they eat for dinner.
The good news? Once it clears the House, as it will likely do, HR 1633 will run into major obstacles in the Senate. But one thing about the anti-regulatory folks: They are relentless. A loss to them is always a spur to a future victory. If this goes down, count on them to be back.