The PPJ Gazette

Marti Oakley (c)copyright 2010 All Rights Reserved

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And don’t you just hate it when you find out that simple little insert flung the door wide open for some damn corporate federal agency to impose another stupid, asinine and pointless, totally unnecessary rule or regulation to implement some standard that is not only costly but ridiculous on its face

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I recently wrote concerning the CLEAR Act: they are stealing it all  and noted in that article one of those strange little insertions appearing to have no real bearing on the issue at hand. 

That issue was:  How to steal more of the land within state geographical boundaries and claim it as owned by the federal government while pretending that the bill is actually about protecting us from yet another oil gusher disaster which can only be accomplished if the federal government controls all coastal waters, the oceans, the Great Lakes and any other body of water or land it can steal from the states. (sigh) 

Included in that article was this excerpt from the ClEAR Act:

Section 4. Fossil Carbon Limitation

This bill also includes a safety valve for carbon share demand. If the maximum price is reached in any one auction, the number of available carbon shares may be increased to exceed the aggregate quantity in order to ensure that all legal bids at that price are accommodated for that auction.  However, these excess carbon shares must be redeemed within 90 days, and all derived revenues from this safety valve auction are deposited in the Clean Energy Reinvestment Trust Fund (CERT Fund) to be used exclusively to curtail the emission of non-carbon greenhouse gases and other climate-affecting substances, such as black carbon or to fund domestic and international projects to reduce, avoid, or sequester emissions through agriculture, forestry, and land use practices (emphasis mine) 

Here is where the “cow fart tax” will most likely be implemented. (Not cow farts!  I am so scared!)

Knowing that little insertions like this usually portend some massive assault on the public under the guise of say….”national security” or maybe “health”, or “keeping us safe” or some other bogus and worn out jingo or slogan, I was not surprised to see the sudden announcement by the EPA, (another of those private, for-profit, federal corporations,) announcing its intentions to possibly regulate…… dust.  

Now….let that thought roll around in your head a minute, then read the last line of the excerpted section from the CLEAR Act again.

What do you suppose they are intending to regulate, via the CLEAR Act?  Dust from factories?  Dust from all the drilling and mining that is ripping our states apart? Dust from outer space?  No?  What are those “other climate-affecting substances”? 

It appears that the EPA is very concerned about the dust from roads (oh!No! not road dust!) and dust from say, the tilling of fields…you know…land use practices. 

Don’t you just love those little statements that sound simple and unpretentious? 

And don’t you just hate it when you find out that simple little insert flung the door wide open for some damn corporate federal agency to impose another stupid, asinine and pointless, totally unnecessary rule or regulation to implement some standard that is not only costly but ridiculous on its face?

So why would they bother? 

The CLEAR Act makes clear that the intentions of the federal government (and I don’t give a flip which party is running things at the moment) is, to take our water, land, any valuable natural resources or assets, and the air we breathe…all because they care about us so much and want to keep us safe! 

Who knew we needed to be protected from ……DUST.  The EPA knows! And goodness knows this could be a windfall of fines, fees, and other revenue and could totally wipe out a major portion of the agricultural sector (except for the big multi-national industrialized farming and ranching operations, they would of course, be somehow “exempted”). 

Think about that the next time you start up your tractor.

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How would EPA regulate the lower standard for coarse PM?

It is too early in the review process to know whether or not EPA will revise the coarse particle standard and, therefore, it is too soon in the process to know how a possible revised standard would be implemented.

Under the Clean Air Act, EPA is required to review and if necessary revise national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) every 5 years. The last review of the PM NAAQS was completed in October 2006.

What are the next steps for the adoption of those lower standards?

As part of the current review of the PM NAAQS, a second draft Policy Assessment (June 2010) was recently reviewed by the Agency’s independent science advisors (the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee or CASAC) and was made available for public review.

The Policy Assessment discusses staff conclusions regarding the range of policy options that could be supported by the currently available scientific and technical information for protecting public health and welfare from exposures to fine (PM 2.5 ) and coarse particle pollution (PM 10 ). EPA will issue a final policy document reflecting consideration of CASAC and public comments in September 2010. The Agency plans to issue a proposed rule in February 2011, and there will be ample opportunity for public comment before EPA takes final action on the PM air quality health standards, currently scheduled for October 2011.

Catherine C. Milbourn
Senior Press Officer