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November 03, 2011 08:17 PM UTC

Cory Gardner Tilting At Dust Devils?

  • 24 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

From the press release freshman Rep. Cory Gardner sent out last week:

During an Energy and Power Subcommittee hearing  on the “Farm Dust Regulation Prevention Act of 2011” (H.R. 1633), Rep. Cory Gardner (R-CO) stressed the importance of protecting agriculture from unrestrained dust regulations that are harmful to jobs in rural Colorado.

“While the EPA recently stated it is prepared to abandon revisions [Pols emphasis] to the existing dust regulation standard, we want to make sure they do not revisit the regulations down the road,” Gardner said. “The rules imposed by the EPA on farm dust are stringent enough already. It is important that we don’t do anything to create even more uncertainty for farmers and ranchers.  Their livelihood and rural jobs depend on it.”

…H.R. 1633, which Gardner has co-sponsored, provides immediate relief to farmers and rural areas by preventing EPA from imposing stricter dust standards for one year from the date of enactment.  The bill, introduced by Rep. Kristi Noem (R-SD), also provides flexibility for states, localities and tribes to regulate “nuisance dust” A background memo and witness list can be found here.

The problem, as the Washington Post reports, is that the “revisions to the existing dust regulation standard” Gardner says the EPA is “prepared to abandon”…never existed.

“Now, here comes my favorite of the crazy regulatory acts. The EPA is now proposing rules to regulate dust,” Rep. John Carter (R-Tex.) said on the House floor. He said Texas was full of dusty roads: “The EPA is now saying you can be fined for driving home every night on your gravel road.”

There was just one flaw in this argument. It was not true.

The EPA’s new dust rule did not exist. It never did.

Still, the specter of this rule has spurred three bills to prevent it , one of which will be voted on Thursday in a House subcommittee. It sparked a late-night battle on the Senate floor. GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain cited it in a debate as a reason to eliminate the EPA…

For Republicans the EPA’s new dust rule was an ideal talking point for this agenda. Even though EPA had – still – not proposed any new EPA dust rule.

…As the year went on, the nonexistent rule also turned up in the Republican presidential race.

“The EPA has gone wild,” Cain said in a GOP debate in September. “The fact that they have a regulation that goes into effect Jan. 1, 2012, to regulate dust says that they’ve gone too far.”

Quite the invention, don’t you think? Too bad Gardner is contributing to the misinformation instead of helping clear it up. His choice of words is key, claiming that the EPA has chosen to “abandon revisions” that have never been proposed. That’s where Gardner’s arguable “regulation prevention” of a hypothetical rule change…becomes a load of manure.

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24 thoughts on “Cory Gardner Tilting At Dust Devils?”

  1. is that which addresses non problems. Here Gardner et al, rather than tackling the economy, would rather legislate to prevent regulation which is NOT being considered.

      1. Confidence requires certainty. This legislation provides certainty that these regulations will not go into effect.

        What’s the problem, other than you don’t like Cory Gardner? What is this hurting if, as you say, there are no regulations forthcoming?

        2. is also considering legislation to prevent the federal government from adding unicorns to the list of federally protected endangered species?

          Business needs the absolute certainty that they can develop and invest in unicorn habitat without any ridiculous additional governmental regulation.  

  2. I don’t know what the Washington Post is thinking, but it’s not a surprise that Herman Cain gets things wrong sometimes. You forgot to copy the part where every spokesman for these congressman explains they know what the situation is. This is stopping the EPA from taking harmful action.

    It looks like another liberal media outlet playing word games. The farmers of CD-4 will back Cory.

    2. Look, I know that TPers like yourself want to choke on smog so that the job creators are unhindered, but the rest of us appreciate the clean air and water that strong environmental regulations have brought us.

      If you had legitimate concerns about the EPA, you wouldn’t need to make shit up to demonize them.

      I teach my kids not to lie. How about you?

      1. Nobody is inventing anything.

        http://www.greeleygazette.com/…

        Gina McCarthy, EPA Assistant Administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation, was asked by CD-4 Rep. Cory Gardner if the EPA regulated farm dust. “I’ve heard others say it’s a myth that EPA is trying to regulate dust, but you already do, is that correct?”

        McCarthy attempted to dodge the answer by first saying they do not regulate farm dust…McCarthy then admitted that the EPA does have regulations on fine and coarse dust. “It is very directly a linkage because of the health consequences associated with coarse particles, some of which may be from farms.” She said “we could probably continue this for a while, but we do not directly regulate farm dust, we have do not have farm dust regulations. We have national standards that regulate coarse and fine particles.”

        The 4th Congressional District is the 11th largest agricultural producing district in the House of Representatives, so the issue has the potential to affect residents here.

        “In areas where farm dust contributes to non-attainment and imposes health concerns there is a right and obligation to take a look at those issues,” McCarthy continued “I don’t see anything wrong with that, in fact I see that as a good practice to continue.”

        That’s why Rep. Gardner sponsored this bill. It’s that simple, and there’s nothing “nonexistent” about it. Once again, I don’t know what the Washington Post is talking about, but they are plain wrong.

        1. Gardner says there are proposed regs.

          He’s lying and you’re defending it.

          And yes, EPA regulate dust. Duh. Most health affects from air pollution are due to fine particulates. Ever lived downwind of a cement plant? I have.  

          1. EPA regulates fine particulates and has done so for a long time. What Rep. Gardner is doing is disingenious. Could these regulations apply to farms or ranches, sure if they generated particulates covered by EPA regs but they don’t.

            Since Rep. Gardner is so sure these EPA regulations are harming farmers and ranchers could he please answer one simple question: Please name the farmers and ranchers who EPA has filed administrative or court actions against to enforce these regulations? I’m betting he can’t name one.

            This is the same Republican Party tactic used in support of repealing the federal estate tax. For years, the Republicans have raved about all the small businesses and family farmers and ranches people have lost because of federal estate taxes, yet they can’t name any specific examples because the exemptions for federal estate taxes are so high they apply to only a few estates, the very wealthy. It was just a baseless ploy to help one segment of our society – the wealthy.

            Today’s Republican Party has very real credibility problems. They simply make things up. You have to believe in Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairey to be a Republican these days.  

        2. ….once again you show no comprehension of the subject at hand.  Here are the current EPA regulations on particulate emissions for agricultural operations:

          http://www.epa.gov/ttn/chief/a…

          Kindly point out where the EPA has EVER regulated particulate emissions for growing operations.  See all of those “NA”‘s and “ND”‘s?  

          There has always been certainty about agricultural particulate emissions as they have barely changed over the course of the last thirty years.  This is an example of a politician looking for a non-existent problem and then inventing a solution to create the image of being business friendly.

    3. It’s right up there with ACORN as a hated acronym.

      Why oh why did Richard Nixon think that conservatives should be concerned about conservation and create it.

      Neither Nixon or Reagan would pass muster in today’s Republican Party.

  4. If gays are allowed to marry, then some will hold wedding receptions in rural areas, which will raise too much dust from the gravel roads, forcing God-fearing, Subsidy-cashing, gun-toting farmers to cut back on tilling their crops because of the anti-dust regulations that the EPA will so someday pass.

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