The National Corn Growers Association has signaled its support for retaining the existing standard for coarse particle pollution – known as PM10 – in comments submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency. In the comments – NCGA President Garry Niemeyer states the group believes the current standard is sufficiently protective of air quality in agricultural and rural communities. He adds that dust is a fact of life in rural America – and creating more stringent regulations could cause many rural counties to fall into nonattainment. According to the comments – that would shift additional costs to agricultural producers with minimal environmental benefit.

Niemeyer notes that states have the option of incorporating conservation management practices into PM10 implementation plans to address air quality concerns. States can also choose to add monitoring sites in counties with populations of less than 100-thousand people – even while EPA focuses on urban and suburban areas. According to Niemeyer – this federal and state partnership is an effective way of mitigating health impacts from dust.