E2-Wire

EPA will not tighten farm dust standards

by Andrew Restuccia - 10/17/11 4:38 PM ET

The Environmental Protection Agency said Friday it will not tighten controls on farm dust, the latest effort to quell concerns by Republicans and others that the agency will impose new regulations on the agriculture industry.

In a letter to Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said she will soon recommend to the White House Office of Management and Budget that existing regulations governing coarse particulate matter from industrial and agricultural operations — often called farm dust — remain in place.

{mosads}“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,” said the letter, which is dated Friday, but was released Monday.

The current farm dust standards have been in place since 1987.

Jackson’s letter is intended to end longtime speculation by Republicans and some farm-state Democrats that EPA will tighten farm dust regulations. The speculation formed the basis for Republican allegations that EPA is imposing unnecessary and burdensome regulations on various industries.

But EPA has been trying to tamp down that speculation for months, insisting that the agency has no plans to tighten the regulations.

“This is a myth the administrator has debunked personally on several occasions,” EPA spokesman Brendan Gilfillan told The Hill in August.

EPA is required under the Clean Air Act to review air quality standards like those for farm dust every five years. As part of that review, EPA staff recommended maintaining or tightening the standards, setting off a wave of speculation that new regulations were in the pipeline.

Legislation introduced in the House and the Senate would formally prevent EPA from imposing tighter farm dust regulations. House Republican leadership has signaled that it plans to bring the bill to the floor this fall.