Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman for yielding time. Madam Speaker, the bill before us today is entitled the Farm Dust Regulation Prevention Act of 2011. I want to make something very clear. If we were here today voting on a bill that actually stopped farm dust from being regulated by the EPA, I would support it. Agriculture is hugely important to my home State of Wisconsin, and the thought of regulating farm dust on a Federal level is simply ridiculous. However, there is no attempt by the EPA to regulate farm dust. Administrator Lisa Jackson said that the EPA has no intention of regulating farm dust. {time} 0930 The Republican Senate sponsor of this bill, former Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns, states that the EPA has provided ``unequivocal assurance that it won't attempt to regulate farm dust.'' This legislation is not about farm dust. Instead, this bill creates a new category of pollution called ``nuisance dust'' and exempts it from the Clean Air Act entirely. To be clear, ``nuisance dust'' is a made-up term that has no basis in established science. Under this legislation, particulate pollution from open-pit mines, mine processing plants, sand mines, lead smelters, and cement kilns would be exempt from the Clean Air Act. These facilities emit coarse and fine particulates--arsenic, lead, mercury, and other toxic substances. Now, I don't know about you, Madam Speaker, but this doesn't sound like ``farm dust'' to me.…”