Western lawmakers push back on EPA farm-dust regs

A bipartisan group of western lawmakers is pushing back against EPA efforts to toughen regulation of farm dust.
 
The 75 lawmakers — led by Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) — are concerned about a draft assessment EPA released in July that would establish the guidelines for regulating particulate matter emissions, including farm dust.
 
The July draft policy assessment “lays the foundation for establishing the most stringent and unparalleled regulation of dust in our nation’s history,” the lawmakers wrote EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson Monday. “We urge the EPA to refrain from going down this path.” There are 13 Democratic cosigners to the letter.

The lawmakers are questioning scientific studies that they say are “at best ambiguous in support of tightening the existing” particulate matter regulation.
 
Current EPA regulations “have been very difficult and expensive for industries in the Western part of the country to attain, including agricultural and other resource-based industries,” the lawmakers wrote. “The possibility of those same industries having to meet a standard that is twice as stringent causes us great concern, especially when a revision is not required by science.”
 
The lawmakers want EPA to maintain the current standard for farm dust to preserve economic stability.