EPA Officials to Visit Iowa Farm

You may recall that the Environmental Protection Agency official in charge of regulating emissions admitted during a Congressional hearing a few months ago that she had never been to a farm in the United States.

Well, that is going to be rectified this week when Margo Oge, director of EPA’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality, pays a visit to America’s heartland. Oge and Gina McCarthy with the Office of Air and Radiation are scheduled to tour a family farm and a biofuel facility in Iowa on Thursday, according to Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA).

“We’ll begin the day with an information session, discussing low carbon fuel standards, corn and soybean technology, followed by information from the local EPA staff about Agstar program. We’ll then move to a family farm to learn about the work that farmers are doing to produce safe quality products in an environmentally friendly manner,” said the senator during a conference call with farm reporters last week. “Last, we’ll visit the Renewable Energy Group’s facility in Newton to get a tour and an overview, and update from the ethanol and biodiesel industries. I think the day will be beneficial for EPA officials writing regulations that, obviously, have a tremendable and scary impact on agriculture and family farmers.”

Okay, so maybe tremendable isn’t really a word, but that’s what the senator said – and I think we all know what he means. Grassley says he had invited EPA administrator Lisa Jackson to visit, but she is not able to make the trip this week.