More Farms/Ranches May Need to Control Dust

Some farmers in parts of Arizona and California already face daily struggles to keep dust at bay. But if an environmental group's petition filed with EPA is successful producers in several other states also could be required to take action. WildEarth Guardians petitioned EPA Oct. 27 in an attempt force the agency's hand to come down harder on national ambient air quality non-attainment areas in parts of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Oklahoma, Nevada, Montana, Utah and Wyoming. WildEarth argues in its petition that state implementation plans to reduce particulate matter pollution have been unsuccessful, proven out by EPA's own monitoring data from sites in 18 counties. Although dust from farms may not be the only source of PM10, farmers in those regions may be asked to do more to reduce dust emissions, as is the case in parts of California and Arizona. There are more than 13,700 farms operating in the 18 counties mentioned in the petition, including more than 7.6 million acres of farm land, according to information from the 2007 Census of Agriculture...more