Q: Why did you invite the EPA Administrator to your farm?
A: As the only working family farmer in the U.S. Senate, I make sure the voice of the American farmer is heard at the policymaking tables in Washington, D.C. After the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently issued a final rule to regulate dust emissions, I turned up the volume to make sure the farmers’ point of view is heard loud and clear. That’s because this federal agency decided against exempting agriculture from a federal cap that would limit dust emissions to 150 micrograms per cubic meter per 24-hour period. Apparently, bureaucrats at the EPA have never had farm dirt lodged beneath their fingernails much less observed a combine at work. I invited the EPA Administrator to visit my Iowa farm during harvest to get a hands-on education and learn how food is harvested from the fields. So many Americans today are oblivious about agriculture and what it takes to get food from the farm to their fork. It defies common sense to subject farmers to lawsuits if they are unable to contain dust within the perimeter of their property. I’m glad the administrator has accepted my invitation. With a newfound understanding of a fall harvest in Iowa, such first-hand exposure might help inject common sense into this issue and erase misguided ideas from the EPA’s policymaking.
In addition, I asked the National Resources Conservation Service and Economic Research Service at the Department of Agriculture to study the economic impact of this EPA rule on agriculture.
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Q: Is it true the proposed federal rule won’t affect farmers in Iowa?
A:
After 25 years representing Iowans in Washington, I’ve learned not to count chickens before they’re hatched. Back in 1979, lawmakers were told farmers wouldn’t be subject to lawsuits under the Superfund laws. Today that’s not the case. So when proponents of this EPA rule today argue that farmers in Iowa wouldn’t be subject to the dust restrictions, I have to be skeptical, especially for its future impact. That’s why I’m working to fix the common sense vacuum at the EPA. Even the best of intentions such as pollution control need to square with reality. And every farmer in Iowa would agree that restricting farm dust within one’s property on a windy day in October is as foolhardy as pounding a square peg into a round hole.