Iowa Senator Seeks to Exempt Ag Industry from Protecting Clean Air

Iowa Senator Charles Grassley, a Republican, is seeking to attach a rider to an agriculture spending bill that would allow the agriculture industry to cause as much particulate pollution as it wants, regardless of the impacts to human health.

Senator Grassley's proposal would be laughable if it wasn't so scary.

The ag industry and its puppet Senator Grassley argue that particulate pollution from agriculture, essentially dust kicked up by farming equipment, fallow fields, and poor land management, doesn't threaten human health. On the other hand, these same people agree that particulate pollution in urban areas does threaten human health.

We gasp to read of Senator Grassley's claim that protecting people from particulate pollution in rural communities is, "bad precedent." The only bad precedent here is that his proposed rider threatens human health, especially that of our children. Particulates can kill, whether they're kicked up by farms or spewed by smokestacks. Senator Grassley, who claims to represent the needs of Iowa citizens, should carefully rethink his position on air pollution.