The Breakfast Flakes: The EPA’s “Farm Dust” Claims Blow

According to the Kansas City Star, the federal government is backing away from tighter air-quality regulations that created controversy over “farm dust.” Our Breakfast Flakes will be happy to see the controversy blow over.

Farmers, the agricultural lobby and many members of Congress had warned for months that a recommendation from an EPA science committee to tighten standards for what the agency calls “PM 10, or coarse particulates” could fall heavily on farmers and small businesses. However, the Environmental Protection Agency said in a statement Monday that it hopes the action “finally puts an end to the myth that the agency is planning to expand regulation of ‘farm dust.’ EPA officials have continually said they had no interest in regulating farm dust, noting that only a few of the air monitors that measured coarse particulates were in rural areas.

So is the EPA really concerned about "farm dust" or not? What part do politics play in this issue? Mark and Paul broke it down this morning and discussed why we may be hearing about this in the future. Play the audio below to hear the discussion.