I have an amendment at the desk, Number 2.
In this legislation, the Republican majority exempts all so-called ‘nuisance dust’ from the protective air quality standards for course particle or soot pollution under the Clean Air Act.
Republicans have defined ‘nuisance dust’ to include particulate matter that is generated from “earth moving or other activities that are typically conducted in rural areas” or particulate matter that “consists primarily of soil, other natural or biological materials”.
This legislation’s broad definition means a bill, which is supposed to be all about tractors and farms, is actually about barring EPA from regulating the toxic soot that comes out of mines, smelters, and chemical plants. Because all of these materials come from earth moving, natural materials, or activities that take place in rural areas!
Now, I don’t know about the Majority – but when most people hear the word ‘nuisance’ they think of things like honking horns, telemarketers, and buzzing flies; they don’t think of poison.
By preventing EPA from regulating the toxic soot spewing out of mining operations, smelters, chemical facilities, and construction sites, Republicans have apparently decided that poisonous chemicals such as arsenic, lead, and mercury are mere ‘nuisances.’
But these are not NUISANCE chemicals, they are NOXIOUS chemicals.
This false advertising is not a total surprise. We have heard from Republican witnesses in the past who, in defense of the most polluting industries, have willingly offered up the absurd. In fact, in the last Congress at a hearing I chaired, the Republican witness said he would be happy to sprinkle arsenic-laced coal ash on his cereal.
It turns out that the Republican witness is not alone in his suggestion to use arsenic as a dietary supplement.
Arsenic, which is a major component of mining activities, was famously used to poison and kill a number of prominent people throughout history, including Napoleon Bonaparte, King George III and The Emperor Guangxu (KWANG-SHU) of China.
In the 19th century, mercury, another common component of mine processing, was used as a common cure-all for toothaches and other bodily ailments. Turns out that mercury is also highly toxic, causes severe impacts on the brain, and throughout history has been identified as the poison behind several notable illnesses and deaths.
By defining ‘nuisance’ dust this way, Republicans are essentially providing the mining industry with the holiday gift of pollution. Instead of gold, frankincense and myrrh, Republicans are bearing gifts of arsenic, lead and mercury.
My amendment simply states that so-called nuisance dust DOESN’T include poisonous arsenic or other heavy metals that are hazardous to human health.
Instead of giving the mining industry a free pass to pollute our air and water, we should ensure that dust containing toxic arsenic, lead, chromium, cadmium and mercury is removed from the air we breathe.
Because cancer is not a nuisance. Radioactivity is not a nuisance. The development of a child’s brain is not a nuisance. Yet the Republican Majority would treat these conditions as such.
The more we learn about this bill the more we all understand that the Farm Dust Regulation Prevention Act is a real piece of legislation that solves an imaginary problem.
In fact, we were essentially told that the EPA is as likely to regulate farm dust as it is to regulate fairy dust.
Republicans are insisting that the mythical threat of farm dust regulations can only be addressed by a bill that ALSO blocks EPA from setting standards for the dirty soot that gets spewed out of massive mines.
Let’s be clear about what this is all about. This is another attempt by the Republicans to protect special interests of Big Coal by creating another loophole to avoid the Clean Air Act.
I urge a yes vote on my amendment.
