"It’s already difficult for some producers in those particularly dry areas of the country to manage dust and meet their standards. If we were to tighten those standards even further it would bring in much larger parts of the country and make it that much more difficult to produce food and fiber." said American Farm Bureau Regulatory Specialist Andrew Walmsley.

 

Walmsley says there are lots of ways that stricter regulations could have affected farmers and ranchers in areas not meeting EPA air quality standards. 

 

"Those could be things like very low speed limits on dirt roads. They could be the inability to get into your fields in certain times of the year to plow or harvest crops, your inability to move livestock or the requirements to wet large swaths of land to control that dust would be costly and very difficult for many farmers and ranchers."

 

The EPA says the agency examined thousands of studies before determining the rural dust rules are sufficient. 

 

"We’re glad to see that EPA is taking into account what scientific evidence or lack of scientific evidence that’s out there and not tighten the standard any further," Walmsley said.