Political Quotes

“I often hear complaints from farmers back home about the numerous regulatory burdens placed on them by the government. In fact, this whole past summer we worked with the farmers who have been in a real brouhaha with the EPA concerning the runoff from their stockyards, and even small ones at that. {time} 1210 These are life-threatening types of regulations to continuing their farming. And now we come up with another one, this one on dust. EPA is in the process of reviewing its dust standards. In 2009, EPA said farm dust ``likely is not safe'' and could cut the allowable dust levels in half. Because of the furor this has created, the EPA said last October they would not regulate farm dust. First they said they would regulate it; now they said they won't regulate it. So to codify this understanding or these contradictory statements by the EPA, I'm sure that all of my colleagues will have no problem in voting for this bill. H.R. 1633 will prevent the EPA from imposing new Federal regulations on naturally-occurring dust in rural America. It will allow States and localities to regulate farm dust as they see fit based on sound science. Farmers in Illinois already struggle to comply with current standards. If Washington imposes another one-size-fits-all solution to farm dust, this could mean even more unemployment in rural areas throughout Illinois and the Nation. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 1633.”