EPA says it will ignore farm dust (for now, at least)

November 16, 2011

It looks like at least one major industry in our service territory will be spared from more intensive regulation for the time being. The Environmental Protection Agency recently assured Congress that the agency has no plans to implement rules limiting the amount of dust generated by combines and other farming operations.+

As Republican efforts to restrain EPA’s aggressive approaches have grown, legislators from farm states have expressed worries about harvest-time dust becoming a target for the agency. South Dakota Congresswoman Kristi Noem is even advancing a bill to block EPA from changing dust limits, noting that “EPA’s announcement does nothing to change the fact that they are still able to regulate farm dust.”

However, agency spokespeople said their announcement should be “an end to the myth that the agency is planning to tighten” farm dust regulations.