Following up on an item from the other day, House Republicans are still hard at work, tackling imaginary concerns.
The House on Thursday approved legislation Republicans said was aimed at ensuring the EPA cannot regulate so-called “farm dust.”Here’s the final roll call — the bill enjoyed unanimous Republican support, as well as the votes of 33 House Democrats.
The House on Thursday afternoon approved legislation Republicans said was aimed at ensuring that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cannot regulate so-called “farm dust.”
The Farm Dust Regulation Prevention Act, H.R. 1633, which would prevent the EPA from issuing any new rule over the next year that regulates coarse particulate matter, or “nuisance dust,” passed in a 268-150 votes.
Just to refresh some memories, the legislation intends to stop proposed regulation that hasn’t, in reality, been proposed.
As Tim Noah explained this week, “It’s political bullshit. There is no pending farm-dust regulation. What there is, is an attempt by Republicans to persuade everybody that there is a pending farm-dust regulation so they can pass a new law exempting the agricultural industry … from an existing clean-air regulation that hardly ever affects farms (but, when it does, addresses a legitimate health issue).”
The House of Representatives just passed a bill to stop regulation that wasn't even being proposed. Why? Because someone was "thinking about it"? Because any and all regulation, to the Republican mind, is at any rate all the time wrong and bad?
I dunno. I'm just a small and slackerish blogger, but my perusal of denialist blogs (you can do a search on this yourself, if you'd like) suggests that for some reason (:cough: global warming :cough cough:) more rural dust might be expected as a consequence of drought conditions prevailing in certain areas. It's almost as if certain deregulation bodies anticipate the fruition of outcomes that only occur if global climate change was a real thing! Imagine that!!!! So the farming community might be advised that their misfortune will be used against them (because let's face it, if your corn, sorghum, or alfalfa was buried under a haboob, that shit is seriously undermining your profitability) in order to pre-emptively strike against the overreach of a regulatory agency--the EPA--
When in all seriousness, the farmers should be looking at the industries that are historically anti-regulation and are banking on their misfortune via some negative weather effects. In other words--Big Fossil Fuels.
Hmm.. It would strike me that maybe, just maybe, if I was a farmer I'd want to investigate how global warming and shit impacted my long-range profitability and act to strengthen any agency that stood against that job-killing bullshit. And instead of hearing propaganda, I want to hear more about how my area was supposed to be affected by climate change. And I'd want to roast the M.F.-ers that were trying to convince me to support combating the EPA--when naturally, if the EPA knew which side their bread was buttered on, they'd be concerned above all with issues that ensured water was safe to drink and irrigate with, and that the environment did not poison produce or livestock. Just so that as a farmer, I'd be sure that we are producing healthful food, not spreading a problem.
Just a thought.
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