Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson is urging the Environmental Protection Agency to refrain from increasing the regulatory burden on rural and agricultural communities.  Simpson recently joined colleagues in expressing concern to EPA Administrator Jackson about efforts to increase regulation of dust, which would have an enormous impact on farms and other resource-based industries in the West.

The EPA recently published its latest proposal for regulating particulate matter under the National Ambient Air Quality Standards, including dust that is kicked up by livestock or results from corn being combined.  The new proposed standard would be approximately twice as stringent as the current standard and would result in the designation of many more rural areas as non-attainment areas.

“I am frustrated that folks at the EPA continue to feel as though they need to regulate something simply because they can measure it,” said Simpson.  “Rural western communities are already struggling to meet the existing air quality standards, and now the EPA wants to implement a standard that is twice as stringent, even though the science supports the current standard.  As usual, the EPA has failed to recognize the real-world impacts of their regulations.”

Together with many of his western colleagues, Simpson expressed deep concern about the impact of the proposed standards on communities in the arid west, where dust is naturally-occurring event.  The letter reads, “Considering the Administration’s claim that it is focusing on revitalizing rural America and rural economic development, a proposal such as this would have a significant negative impact on those very goals…We are hopeful that common sense will prevail and the EPA will refrain from causing extreme hardship to farmers, livestock producers, and other resource-based industries throughout rural America.”

Simpson is the Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior and the Environment, which oversees funding for the EPA.