09/27/06 The Air We Breathe

The air we breathe. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. On yesterday's report, we talked with the EPA's Jon Scholl about new EPA Air Standards. According to Scholl the new standards will not affect farming operations. SCHOLL: This is definitely been an issue that's been a great interest to the agricultural community. Certainly anyone who's familiar with agriculture knows that dust and dirt is an inherent part of what we do in agriculture. Basically what the agency has done is to maintain a standard that has been in place about 20 years so there have been no new obligations; legal obligations that have been placed on farmers and ranchers from these rules. So if you hadn't been impacted by the rules that had been in place prior to this time, it's unlikely you're going to see much of a change here in the next several years in terms of it's impact on agriculture. But how is the air we breathe? SCHOLL: Well first of all I think it's important to point out that the air is cleaner than it has been on the last 30 years. We think this rule continues the progress that has been put into place by putting the most protective standards in place that the nation has ever had, particularly on the fine particle side. We also believe that we've found a way that advances clean air goals while protecting agriculture, particularly as it relates to the coarse fraction of particles we are dealing with. And I think thirdly an important point that farmers certainly appreciate is the fact that science plays a very important role in making the decisions on issues like this. Particulate matter or PM is a complex mixture of extremely small particles and liquid droplets in the air like dust, soot and particles too small to see. SCHOLL: When they're inhaled go deep into the lungs and cause a health effect. The agency was under a court order to finalize these new standards which is exactly what the administrator did last week. Scholl says that the new EPA air quality standard has to be implemented on a state to state basis. SCHOLL: Now the process is that the states develop state implementation plans and that will take place over the next several years in terms of states looking at what they need to do in addition to the work that has already been done to control course and fine particulates in the air. For more information and details of the new EPA air quality standards, visit their website at www.epa.gov. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.