Dust in the wind

Agricultural groups are not happy with an EPA rule that regulates dust in non-urban and rural areas. If the rule stands, it would seem to put some parts of the country in permanent violation of the standard From the Farm Bureau:


WASHINGTON, D.C., October 9, 2007 -- A new Environmental Protection Agency rule that regulates dust generated by agricultural sources has no basis in the law or science, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. AFBF and three other agricultural groups, the National Catttlemen’s Beef Association, National Pork Producers Council and Agricultural Retailers Association, filed a joint brief with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals urging review of the rule.
AFBF and the other groups contend that EPA erred in issuing a rule that regulates non-urban, rural areas under the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for particulate matter.
“Everyday aspects of livestock and crop production, including tilling the soil and traveling on dirt roads to reach pastures and fields, can generate dust, particularly in dry areas,” said AFBF President Bob Stallman. “EPA's insistence on regulating rural dust has the potential to negatively impact all areas of agriculture.”
AFBF argued in the brief that EPA’s own findings prior to publication of the rule stated that dust from rural areas did not pose a public health risk.
“EPA's regulation of dust in rural areas ignores the agency’s findings and is improperly based on ‘caution’ rather than science,” said Stallman. “If allowed to stand, this rule has the potential to curtail the efforts of hardworking farming and ranching families to provide food for our nation and the world.”