Vilsack’s blog on dust earns Noem response

Posted: Friday, December 16th Filed in:

Written by
Philip Brasher | Argus Leader Washington Bureau

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.”