EPA Administrator: Agency Is A Friend To Rural Residents

Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA)Administrator Lisa Jackson, is urging rural residents not to think of the agency as a threat, acknowledging at a recent event in Georgia that there is “a fear in rural areas that the EPA is coming after you.”

During a recent meeting at the South Georgia Technical College in Americus, Jackson listened to concerns from representatives of several agribusinesses, including the Georgia Peanut Commission and the Georgia Cotton Council, many of whom expressed concerns over some of the EPA’s recent regulations they say hold the potential to economically harm their businesses.

Recently EPA announced it was considering stricter regulations for particulate matter, or dust, based on health concerns. EPA is required under the Clean Air Act to reassess national air quality standards every five years. New regulations are scheduled to be in place by 2011. If a proposal by the EPA becomes law, the amount of allowable dust released in the air from farming and other businesses would have to be cut in half.

Many farmers and agricultural representatives pointed out to Jackson that dust was a way of life in rural areas and that no one can farm without the possibility of dust. Jackson said EPA will not enact regulations that would prevent farming. “We are making sure and taking great care that you aren’t required to do something that does not allow you to grow your crop,” she told her audience. ◆

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