WASHINGTON – Senator Chuck Grassley today introduced an amendment to the Agriculture Appropriations bill that would ensure that no funds be allocated to the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate agricultural dust.
“I told the Administrator that this issue was important to Iowa and to farmers across the country and I was not going to give up,” Grassley said. “This is about the future. The rule is setting a bad precedent for agriculture.”
The amendment has been endorsed by 13 agriculture groups including the American Soybean Association, the National Pork Producers Council, the National Association of Wheat Growers, the National Turkey Federation, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, The Fertilizer Institute, the National Chicken Council, the United Egg Association, the National Corn Growers Association, United Egg Producers, the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, USA Rice Federation and the National Milk Producers Federation.
Grassley’s amendment follows months of back and forth between the Senator and the EPA. His concerns relate to a final rule issued by the EPA on coarse particulate matter which could have a devastating affect on agriculture. Grassley believes the complex rule in time could regulate all aspects of anything from combine dust to feedlot dust and even the dust from gravel roads that lead to many farms.
Grassley invited the EPA Administrator to Iowa to see first hand the impact the rule could have on farmers. Because of poor weather, Grassley was not able to show the Administrator a field of beans being combined, but they were able to meet with a small group of agricultural stakeholders in Iowa. At the meeting Grassley told the Administrator that farmers do not have the resources to be engaged in lengthy lawsuits.
To see a copy of the amendment click click here