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EPA to Crack Down on Farm Dust

Renae

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OKLAHOMA CITY -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is considering a crackdown on farm dust, so senators have signed a letter addressing their concerns on the possible regulations.

The letter dated July 23 to the EPA states, "If approved, would establish the most stringent and unparalleled regulation of dust in our nation's history." It further states, "We respect efforts for a clean and healthy environment, but not at the expense of common sense. These identified levels will be extremely burdensome for farmers and livestock producers to attain. Whether its livestock kicking up dust, soybeans being combined on a dry day in the fall, or driving a car down the gravel road, dust is a naturally occurring event."

EPA to Crack Down on Farm Dust - News9.com - Oklahoma City, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports |

And if you wonder why there are calls to disband the EPA, this is a very good example.
 
Ok, so it's being considered. I'm not seeing a story here.
 
Better to wait for it to pass to get concerned right?
Yeah, actually. Flying off the handle at every suggestion that comes across a desk is a waste of energy.

No this is not the most intelligent idea ever to be spawned but it's still at the idea stage and unless it gets accepted into actual practice, the amount of hemorrhaging you're doing is not worth it.

Disband the EPA? I cant even begin to articulate how much of an over-reaction that is.
 
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I'll hold off on my judgement.
 
Yeah, actually. Flying off the handle at every suggestion that comes across a desk is a waste of energy.

No this is not the most intelligent idea ever to be spawned but it's still at the idea stage and unless it gets accepted into actual practice, the amount of hemorrhaging you're doing is not worth it.

Disband the EPA? I cant even begin to articulate how much of an over-reaction that is.
Of course you find this suggestion, to disband the EPA to be extreme, you think Gov't is the protector and arbitor of all that is good. The EPA needs to be disbanded, and new entity, focused on common sense oversight should take it's place.
 
[....]
I'll hold off on my judgement.

So you're insinuating that the some government agency like the EPA could have prevented the dust bowl?

I hope you're just trying to use sarcasm...
 
Yeah...

THAT'S not what their going on about. It's about Air Quality, not "Dust Bowl".

Nice being off target.
I followed the link. Air quality is what this draft regulation is claimed to be about by it's opponents. I bet they are right that it contains some things about air quality, but I don't know if that's all there is to it. Also, dust can be a pollutant. From what I've heard from the opponents in the link, the draft regulation appears to be overbearing, however there is a medium between the large but acceptable amount of dust that occurs on many farms and my hyperbolic examples.
 
So you're insinuating that the some government agency like the EPA could have prevented the dust bowl?

I hope you're just trying to use sarcasm...
What do you think caused the dustbowl? How is it possible that regulations couldn't have mitigated it?
 
What do you think caused the dustbowl? How is it possible that regulations couldn't have mitigated it?

You implied that regulations could have prevented the disaster, The burden of proof is on to show how they could have.
 
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I personally don't see a problem here. It is a little silly that they complain about dust though, however if there is a genuine safety concern such as there is in coal towns then something needs to be done to help prevent dust from kicking up. Maybe use a bunch of these?

sprinkler-sod-farm.jpg
 
Of course you find this suggestion, to disband the EPA to be extreme, you think Gov't is the protector and arbitor of all that is good. The EPA needs to be disbanded, and new entity, focused on common sense oversight should take it's place.
Then what do you suggest we have in place for environmental regulation?

Keep in mind, it's EPA regulations and enforcement that keep your water, air, and land clean.
 
Then what do you suggest we have in place for environmental regulation?

Keep in mind, it's EPA regulations and enforcement that keep your water, air, and land clean.

Oh nothing, I believe in dirty air, water and land!

Of course, you didn't read what I said, or you'd have seen...

A NEW ENTITY FOCUSED ON COMMON SENSE OVERSIGHT.

Not, regulate the **** out of everything as the EPA is headed now. The entire Fed Gov't is out of hand, and people like you just "dur dur dur, they keep everything clean and safe! dur dur dur".

At what cost? At what point does the mission of keeping things "clean" become too much? For you? Apparently no measure is too severe, no regulation too onerous, and no idea too stupid to support.
 
Oh nothing, I believe in dirty air, water and land!

Of course, you didn't read what I said, or you'd have seen...

A NEW ENTITY FOCUSED ON COMMON SENSE OVERSIGHT.
Such as?

Not, regulate the **** out of everything as the EPA is headed now. The entire Fed Gov't is out of hand, and people like you just "dur dur dur, they keep everything clean and safe! dur dur dur".

At what cost? At what point does the mission of keeping things "clean" become too much? For you? Apparently no measure is too severe, no regulation too onerous, and no idea too stupid to support.
You are getting very seriously un-zen about something that's basically an idea someone threw out at a meeting. If it becomes regulation, then I'll be first in line asking the EPA to justify the decision. Until that time, you need to seriously switch to decaf.

The military wanted to develop a "gay bomb" and the idea was scrapped. Why? Because it was a crappy idea.

If we scrapped every organization for coming up with one bad idea, we'd all be Anarchists.
 
Disband the EPA? I cant even begin to articulate how much of an over-reaction that is.
Flying off the handle at every suggestion that comes across a desk is a waste of energy.
 
Well, of course they should be doing this.

I mean, its not like we have other agencies in the government completely and fully ignoring federal law and refusing to enforce it by claiming they "can't handle the load" that could use money funneled out of an agency whose worrying about such things as taking a "crack down on dust" into an agency that seemingly can't be bothered to enforce federal law.

So I mean, of course this is great.
 
You implied that regulations could have prevented the disaster, The burden of proof is on to show how they could have.
If the government had required that farmers in high risk area use soil conservation techniques before the dust bowl began then much of the soil that blew away would've stayed where it was.
 
If the government had required that farmers in high risk area use soil conservation techniques before the dust bowl began then much of the soil that blew away would've stayed where it was.

How is that possible? If it wasn't for the dust bowl, farmers wouldn't even have knowledge about crop rotation.
 
Please tell me that is sarcasm
What?
Crop rotation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
wikipedia said:
Historic crop rotation methods are mentioned in Roman literature, and referred to by several civilizations in Asia and Africa. During the Muslim Agricultural Revolution, a rotation system was developed where land was cropped four times or more in a two-year period. ... In Europe, since the times Charlemagne, there was a transition from a two-field crop rotation to a three-field crop rotation. ... A four-field rotation was pioneered by farmers, namely in the region Waasland in the early 16th century and popularised by the British agriculturist Charles Townshend in the 18th century. ... George Washington Carver pioneered crop rotation methods in the United States by teaching southern farmers to rotate soil depleting crops like cotton with soil enriching crops like peanuts and peas.
 
Nah, been doing it for thousands of years.

Actually, crop rotation only became standard practice in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries, though you may be confusing it with the system of letting land remain fallow once every three years which dates to the Middle Ages...
 
You see, the Farmers of the 30's KNEW there would be a dust bowl, but didn't care out of GREED! They paid off the Gov't NOT to regulate them!

Yeah, that's what happened.
 
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