January 24, 2012

U.S. Representative Kristi Noem offered a mixed reaction to the President’s State of the Union address to the nation.

“Once again tonight, the President relied on higher taxes, increased spending and more government to tackle our nation’s economic woes rather than giving entrepreneurs and businesses the regulatory certainty they need along with the freedom they desire. We don’t need higher taxes we need less subsidy.” Noem added.

“The President talked about developing an all-of-the-above energy policy, but unfortunately I fear this is just a talking point since just days ago he vetoed the Keystone XL pipeline project that would have created jobs and increased access to safe North American energy,” said Noem.

“There was once again much talk about what small businesses need to succeed, but the simple fact is that there are currently more than 4,000 new regulations in the pipeline, 219 of which will have a major impact on the economy. If President Obama was serious about keeping his pledge to do away with burdensome regulations, then he should have urged Senate Democrats to pass the nearly 30 bipartisan jobs bills – many of which rein in costly and excessive government regulations - sitting on their doorstep,” said Noem.

“Additionally, it is unfortunate that the President devoted so little time to the issue of cutting spending and tackling our debt and deficit. Ignoring the issue won’t make it go away –even if you’re the President,” said Noem.

“Despite our differences, I still believe there are some areas where we can work together. The President continues to show good faith to reform education by giving more control to local schools and States. Additionally, I agree with the President’s desire go after China and others when they aren’t playing by the fair trade rules,” said Noem

“I am holding out hope that we can work together on some key issues this year because that is what the American people elected us to do,” concluded Noem.

WASHINGTON - The Environmental Protection Agency received a clear signal Dec. 8 from the U.S. House of Representatives that placing burdensome and scientifically unfounded regulations on U.S. farmers and ranchers is unacceptable, according to National Cattlemen's Beef Association officials.

In a bipartisan showing, the House voted 268-150 in favor of Rep. Kristi Noem's (R-S.D) Farm Dust Regulation Prevention Act of 2011. NCBA President Bill Donald calls the vote a win for regulatory certainty for cattlemen and women.

"Unfortunately, taking EPA's word that farm dust will not be further regulated provides absolutely no relief to those cattle producers already faced with dust regulations. We saw legislation as the only option to give all ranchers across the country any sort of peace of mind," said Donald, who is a rancher from Melville, Mont. "Cattlemen and women worried about being fined for moving cattle, tilling a field or even driving down a dirt road should rest assured knowing that will not be allowed to happen on our watch. The bill provides much-needed certainty for cattlemen."

Donald said the fact EPA was even considering regulating dust at levels that would push much of the country into non-compliance was reason enough to move forward with H.R. 1633. NCBA Deputy Environmental Counsel Ashley Lyon said the legislation recognizes that dust from agricultural activities has never been shown to have an adverse health impact at ambient levels. H.R. 1633 first gives states and localities the authority in regulating dust by preventing the federal standard from applying where states or localities already have dust measures in place. In places where there is no state or local control, the bill also would exempt farm dust from the Clean Air Act unless the EPA administrator can prove it is a significant health problem and that applying the standard is worth the costs.

Donald said it is because of commonsense policymakers like Noem and theÊoriginal cosponsors Leonard Boswell (D-Iowa), Larry Kissell (D-N.C.) and Robert Hurt (R-Va.). He said agriculture rallied behind this bipartisan legislation. Specifically, NCBA orchestrated a letter signed by 194 agricultural organizations that was sent to every member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Donald said NCBA wanted to be clear that this legislation was supported across the board by all of agriculture.

"What we have found is when we need a solution to a problem, we simply find a bigger hammer. Rallying together and working directly with members of Congress allowed us to swing a bigger hammer and score a victory for the entire industry today but our efforts cannot stop now," said Donald. "The Senate will be a challenge. However, we are confident if agriculture continues to work together, we can expect this legislation to end up on the president's desk."

The legislation advanced to the Senate, where it was introduced by Sens. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) and Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and has support from 26 bipartisan senators.

Representative Kristi Noem just finished her first year in Washington D.C. and says she wishes that politicians on Capitol Hill could compromise better, which would serve everyone better including senior citizens.

Monday, she toured an assisted living home and saw how new technology at The Good Samaritan Center can keep more senior citizens living at home and using fewer dollars from Medicare.

“That could potentially, if that person is relying on Medicare or Medicaid, to pay their bills. Also there could be a savings for the federal government as well. It would be a win, win situation for the senior who really does desire to stay at home and also for the federal government in cost savings,” said Noem.

Noem also just recently graduated from SDSU and says she has received her final transcript but is still waiting for her diploma.

SIOUX FALLS, SD - South Dakota Congresswoman Kristi Noem is getting ready for her sophomore year in the House of Representatives.

Noem made a stop in Sioux Falls on Monday. She's hit several areas of the state during the winter break.

The Republican Congresswoman says people have told her their top concern is still the country's debt. She also may propose legislation this year that would reform the country's tax code.

"They'd like to see something be put in stone. Something to be done more long-term so they can plan. And that really does need to be a goal of what we get accomplished, tax certainly and tax reform," Noem said.

This is also an election year for Noem, who says she will seek her congressional seat again. Noem has also spent the past year finishing up her college degree and says she will be a commencement speaker at this spring's graduation ceremony.

Kevin Woster Journal Staff

It wasn't just that she didn't have the degree. It was not finishing that bothered Kristi Noem the most.

That and a big sister who wouldn't let her forget.

"I was always disappointed that I didn't finish college," the Republican congresswoman from Castlewood said recently, just days after she handed in her final paper in coursework for an undergraduate degree in political science from South Dakota State University. "But I really got kick-started in a conversation with my sister in about 2005 or 2006. We were talking and she said she was really surprised I hadn't finished, because she hadn't known me to quit at anything."

That got Noem to thinking. And eventually she resumed through online studies the college coursework she had abandoned almost two decades earlier when her dad died in a farm accident.

Noem still believes she made the right decision in going home to help on the family's Hamlin County farm. But combined with responsibilities in marriage, motherhood and business, her desire for the degree drifted.

Until big sister, Cindy, who has a master's degree, stepped in.

"She said it in love, and I appreciated her saying it. But it was also a conversation that stuck with me," Noem said during a speech Dec. 17 at the University of South Dakota winter commencement. "I couldn't get it out of my mind."

So Noem went back to work on that education degree, which changed quite naturally to political science. She also won two terms in the South Dakota House of Representatives and then in the 2010 U.S. House race upset three-term Democratic Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, who had seemed unbeatable in her two previous campaigns.

Noem, 40, took a break from her studies during her House campaign but then picked it up in her first year in Congress.

It wasn't easy. Noem sandwiched her coursework - a process made possible by new online options - in between congressional duties in D.C. and family time and constituent visits back in the state.

"I generally did a lot of my studying on airplane flights back and forth from South Dakota to Washington," Noem said. "And a lot of nights I would stay up until 2 or 3 in the morning to get things done."

Noem hadn't officially received word on her final paper. But presuming she passed, she'll have the right to graduate next spring at SDSU commencement ceremonies.

That's still under discussion with Noem's husband, Bryon, and children, Kassidy, Kennedy and Booker.

"My family wants me to. They're pretty excited I got it done, and they've really gone through it with me," Noem said. "But I wouldn't want to be a distraction for the other students. I'm not sure."

She is sure, however, that the degree was worth the work. She likes it so much, she's thinking about a master's degree.

"My sister has hers, so it would be kind of fun to do," she said. "And I certainly think it would be something I could accomplish."

Letters to the Editor

Kristi Noem sponsored and the House passed, with Democratic support, a bill to prohibit further regulation of rural dust by the EPA. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., has introduced a similar bill in the Senate.

Do we need this type of legislation? You bet!

Obama has told his administration “to keep looking every single day for action we can take without Congress.”

He has created a blizzard of executive orders and rules throughout his bureaucracy. He is subverting the power of Congress.

The administration’s Secretary of Agriculture has denied there will be any more regulation of rural dust. But he’s not the head of the EPA.

The EPA is working on massive increases in many regulations. Any denial of intent to further regulate rural dust has little credibility.

Preemptive legislation in this area and in many others is necessary.

Even if Noem’s bill becomes law, will Obama abide by it? He’s not grounded in respect for Congress or the rule of law.

He has said that he doesn’t need congressional authority to “fundamentally transform the United States of America.”

Take him at his word!

JOHN D. WAGNER

Rapid City

Scott VanderWal President of South Dakota Farm Bureau Rapid City Journal | Posted: Saturday, December 24, 2011 6:00 am

The South Dakota Farm Bureau, along with more than 190 organizations across the United States, applaud the U.S. House for recently passing H.R. 1633, the Farm Dust Regulation Prevention Act. The legislation, authored by Rep. Kristi Noem, passed the House with a 268-150 vote, including 33 Democrats. Not surprisingly, the majority of opponents were from urban districts.

Criticism of the bill, and even a veto threat from the President, highlight the stark contrast between those fighting for agriculture and those detached from rural America. Opposition to the idea of excluding naturally-occurring dust from federal regulation raises some questions: Is there an element of plausible deniability? Or are opponents of the legislation — some who have referred to it as “pixie dust” — engaged in disingenuous pandering?

In a recent letter to Congress, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson indicated she really doesn’t intend to further regulate coarse dust particles at this time. Apparently, this rather broad statement is supposed to boost our confidence that the current administration would not do anything ill-advised.

Unfortunately, there is historical evidence that we all need to be wary.

First, the Clean Air Act requires that standards be reviewed every five years. Even if current proposals to regulate dust are being shelved, they could easily reappear in five years. Second, in both the 1996 and 2006 reviews, EPA finalized a standard that was different from what had been proposed. Third, farm work is already being curtailed when naturally-occurring dust shows up in the air in parts of the western United States.

That is why we believe Rep. Noem’s bill is on target. The legislation makes some common-sense amendments to the Clean Air Act by allowing state and local governments to regulate naturally-occurring dust from normal farming operations. At the same time, the bill gives the federal government authority to step in if there is a substantial evidence of adverse health impacts.

Planting and harvesting crops, moving livestock, and driving down dirt roads are just a few of the ways dust occurs in rural areas. The cost of the federal government attempting to regulate these activities would be astronomical. That is why the Noem bill needs to be passed by the Senate and signed by the president.

December 18, 2011

I’ve read a lot of nonsense about the Farm Dust Regulation Prevention Act of 2011 (H.R. 1633). The biggest nonsense is coming from people calling this issue “imaginary” or “fairy dust.”

In rural America, this issue is no laughing matter. I am a 27 year-old cattleman from Sturgis, hoping to make a career out of feeding the world safe and nutritious beef. However, bizarre regulations coming from this administration are making it difficult for the next generation of cowboys to choose ranching as a profession.

This administration has had every opportunity to encourage job creation and ignite the economy in rural America. Those opportunities are ignored, and instead insane regulations are pursued. These regulations are killing opportunities on farms and ranches. With big government’s heavy hand, we risk putting the providers of food out of business.

Coarse particulate matter (dust) is one of several criteria pollutants for which EPA sets a National Ambient Air Quality Standard as mandated by the Clean Air Act. EPA already regulates farm dust. This is not imaginary. The fact that EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced she was considering regulating dust at levels twice as stringent as the current standard was frightening to those of us living in dusty regions of the country.

Cattlewoman-turned-Congresswoman Kristi Noem introduced some common-sense legislation to allow state and local governments to set dust regulations as appropriate for specific regions of the country.
The federal government has no business regulating farm dust that has never been proved to cause negative health effects at ambient levels. I am proud of Noem and the 267 members of Congress who joined her in support of this bill. I feel good that someone in Washington is looking out for farm and ranch families throughout the country.

Britton Blair
Cattleman
Sturgis
 

By: David Lias

Published: Monday, December 19, 2011 1:11 AM CST

VERMILLION — Rep. Kristi Noem had something in common with students of the University of South Dakota who were waiting to receive their degrees during Saturday’s 36th winter commencement exercises in the DakotaDome.

“I have my fingers crossed because I’ve turned in my final paper and if it does well, I’m going to graduate with you in 2011 as well,” she said. “We’ve probably gone through totally different experiences going through the classes and getting to the graduation point that I’ve reached but it certainly is very significant to me.”

A native of Hamlin County in northeast South Dakota, Noem was elected to the United States House of Representatives on Nov. 2, 2010 after serving in the South Dakota House of Representatives. In the U.S. House, Noem serves on the Agriculture, Education and Workforce, and Natural Resources Committees.

As a member of the state House, Noem represented South Dakota’s Sixth District and was assistant majority leader before taking a run at Congress.

When Noem was 22, she left college to help run her family’s ranch after her father was killed in a farm accident. Though her college career was interrupted, she has, over the years, taken classes, including online courses and she has received intern credits for her work in Congress.

Noem said she is often asked why she decided to go back to school years after her father’s death.

“It all started with a conversation I had with my sister,” she said. “We were talking about our lives, and how things had changed ... and she said ‘one thing that’s really surprised me is you’ve never completed school to get your degree. You don’t quit at anything.’”

Noem said she kept telling herself that she would have more time to complete her schooling later in life, when things perhaps weren’t so busy. “Hopefully, I will learn soon that, I, too, will have met my goal (of receiving a university degree) and I’ll be right there with you,” she said.

Noem told the graduates that she is aware that they, too, also faced challenges to achieve the goal of receiving a university degree that day.

“Boy, am I proud of you,” she said. “There are so many hurdles that keep you from getting a good, quality education, and you guys stepped through it.”

Noem said in preparation for her keynote speech that morning, she reviewed several commencement speeches on the internet made through the years by politicians, business leaders and other noteworthy personalities.

“I didn’t want to make today’s speech too sappy or too optimistic,” she said. “I think you are a unique generation. You don’t know of a world without the internet. If you wanted to know something or question something your professor told you over the years, all you had to do is Google it. This makes you much more perceptive ... you can tell a fake when you see it — you know when a deal is just too good to be true.

“So I wanted to leave you with something today that you could use going forward,” Noem added. “If I stood up here today and told you the rest of your lives were going to be lollipops and bubblegum, you wouldn’t believe me. You know that there are going to be challenges ahead.”

She chose to share a portion of the message that comedian and late-night talk show host Conan O’Brien left with the spring 2011 graduates of Dartmouth College.

“So, at the age of 47, after 25 years of obsessively pursuing my dream, that dream changed. For decades, in show business, the ultimate goal of every comedian was to host ‘The Tonight Show.’ It was the Holy Grail, and like many people I thought that achieving that goal would define me as successful. But that is not true. No specific job or career goal defines me, and it should not define you,” Noem said, quoting O’Brien. “ ...whether you fear it or not, disappointment will come. The beauty is that through disappointment you can gain clarity, and with clarity comes conviction and true originality. And there is no greater cliché in a commencement address than ‘follow your dream.’”

Noem said O’Brien’s speech also contained this message: “I am here to tell you that whatever you think your dream is now, it will probably change. And that’s OK. Your path at 22 will not necessarily be your path at 32 or 42. One’s dream is constantly evolving, rising and falling, changing course. It is our failure to become our perceived ideal that ultimately defines us and makes us unique. It’s not easy, but if you accept your misfortune and handle it right, you’re perceived failure can become a catalyst for profound re-invention.

“Those are pretty wise words for a stand-up comedian,” Noem said.

She added this advice: “We’ve all heard the cliché that the only thing that is constant is change. Well, it’s a cliché because it really is true. I know all of you have future plans, naturally,” she said, “... but don’t be surprised if they change. There’s no telling where our plans will take us, and where our future will take us.”

WASHINGTON — The South Dakota lawmaker who’s leading the effort to block regulation of rural dust is trading barbs with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

Vilsack earlier this week accused House members of perpetuating a myth that legislation is needed to stop the Environmental Protection Agency from tightening national standards for pollution from what is known as coarse particulate matter. “Simply not true! The EPA is not now, nor has it ever proposed regulating dust,” Vilsack wrote in a blog post.

Rep. Kristi Noem, R-S.D., shot back today that Vilsack “doesn’t like Congress using its authority to tell EPA what its boundaries are, but that’s our job.” Then she had some advice for the former Iowa governor: “At the end of the day, his job should be to represent producers in this country, not the president.”

Noem is the chief sponsor of the House-passed bill that would not only block the EPA from changing its particulate limit but go a step further and stop the agency from regulating dust that’s generated by farming and mining operations and other sources in rural areas.

Democrats who control the Senate are opposed to the bill, and it also faces a White House veto threat.
 

Agribusiness interests have long looked to the USDA to serve as an advocate with the EPA and other agencies. Vilsack said in his post that the Obama administration “remains committed to preserving the competitiveness of every economic sector and to commonsense approaches to improving air quality across the country.”