Friday, October 28, 2011

Gingrich Brings Up Untrue EPA Farm Dust Allegation

The Des Moines Register covers the bullshit parade:
On Monday, Gingrich asked for a show of hands of people who were aware of the proposed dust regulation. Most in the crowd of about 175 people raised their hands.
He said he is convinced that the person who proposed the regulations “leaves an air-conditioned condominium to get on the metro subway to ride to an air-conditioned federal office building to sit in an office with no windows where they sit back and they imagine dust and then they decide, ‘You know, dust is bad.’ ”
He said that in a conversation with Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, he had discovered that EPA officials are talking about placing restrictions on farmers against plowing their fields when the wind is blowing in the wrong direction and goes onto a neighbor’s farm.
He concluded: “The EPA is probably the most destructive single organization in the federal government today because it has people who have selected out and who have imposed their will on the American economy and the American society with no regard for common sense and no regard for practicality and that is why we need to replace it.”
The crowd applauded loudly.
ANALYSIS: The EPA insists it has not proposed new rules on farm dust. Officials from the agency have said for months that such concerns are based on a misunderstanding about the agency’s rulemaking process. The agency since 1987 has regulated particulate matter under the federal Clean Air Act, but those rules are largely targeted at emissions from power plants, factories and vehicles. As part of a congressional mandate, the agency this year performed a routine review of science on various air pollutants, including particulate matter, that can cause heart disease and death. Such particulates can come from the use of fossil fuels in power plants and vehicles; wildfires; and, as people like Gingrich have noted, even dust from farming and unpaved roads.
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson in March testified before the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture that the agency has no plans to expand regulation to the dust on farms. Jackson on Oct. 14 sent a letter to U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and chairwoman of the Senate ag committee, stating that no changes to particulate matter regulations are being proposed.
How can you tell when a Republican is lying?  You guessed it.  I am so sick of hearing this shit.  I would like to know how many dollars the Farm Bureau has raised peddling this.  Meanwhile, lakes throughout Ohio are being poisoned with algae blooms from runoff, and barely anything has been done to farmers.  Why on earth would they think EPA will come out with dust regulations when they haven't kicked anybody in the ass when marinas are closing and property values are getting crushed from manure and fertilizer runoff?  I don't get why people are so gullible.

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