Senator Charles Grassley says a new federal air quality rule covering dust could devastate farming.
The rule is proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The new federal standard deals with “particulate matter” in the air. Grassley says the rule “could regulate all aspects of what is more commonly referred to as dust.”
Grassley has asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture to study what the economic impact of that rule would have on agriculture.
In a sent this afternoon letter, Grassley invited the head of the EPA to the Grassley farm in northeast Iowa. Grassley said it would give the bureaucrat “the opportunity to see what America’s farmers are confronted with when harvesting.” Grassley also said he’d expect an on-the-farm demonstration from the EPA administration to show him “how a farmer is to contain dust on their farm while combining.”
Grassley concluded his five-sentence letter by asking the EPA adminsitrator to reply to the invitation within 24 hours.