Ed Markey: “I thank the gentleman for yielding. We are now debating on a very real piece of legislation that solves an imaginary…”

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. We are now debating on a very real piece of legislation that solves an imaginary problem. The Farm Dust Regulation Prevention Act purports to address the fictitious threat that the Environmental Protection Agency is out to destroy the family farm and countless jobs by regulating the dust emitted by tractors and other farming equipment. Never mind that EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson has committed to leaving the 1987 standard for large soot particles unchanged; and never mind that EPA Assistant Administrator Gina McCarthy essentially told the Energy and Commerce Committee that EPA was about as likely to regulate fairy dust as it was to regulate farm dust. While hiding behind its stated purpose of addressing the made-up threat of utter ruin to the family farm, this bill inflicts very real harm. That is because it also blocks EPA from setting standards for the dirty soot that gets spewed out of massive mines and smelters and refineries and some chemical plants. It becomes, in fact, the congressional version of Never Never Land--where the Republicans' answer to the question ``when can we remove the poisons from the air that we breathe?'' is ``never.'' In the play ``Peter Pan,'' Tinker Bell drinks poison that is intended to kill Peter. She begins to die, but Peter Pan implores those in the audience to just clap their hands if they really do believe in fairies, and then maybe, just maybe, Tinker Bell won't die.…”