The Environmental Protection Agency has been working for more than two decades to reduce particulate pollution in the air. But contrary to the claims of some farm-state lawmakers, it is not planning to crack down on farm dust. EPA administrator Lisa Jackson wrote a letter to Congress last week emphasizing that she wants to keep the current standard for particulate matter. EPA said in a statement that it “hopes that this action finally puts an end to the myth that the agency is planning to tighten this regulation.”
Kansas figures prominently in the Brennan Center for Justice’s survey of the recently passed 19 laws and two executive actions in 14 states relating to voting. Kansas was among the seven states this year to newly require voters to show photo ID and three to require proof of citizenship to register. The center, based at New York University School of Law, concludes that “these new laws could make it significantly harder for more than 5 million eligible voters to cast ballots in 2012.” The report went on: “Although it is too early to quantify how the changes will impact voter turnout, they will be a hindrance to many voters at a time when the United States continues to turn out less than two-thirds of its eligible citizens in presidential elections and less than half in midterm elections.”
The Environmental Protection Agency has been working for more than two decades to reduce particulate pollution in the air. But contrary to the claims of some farm-state lawmakers, it is not planning to crack down on farm dust. EPA administrator Lisa Jackson wrote a letter to Congress last week emphasizing that she wants to keep the current standard for particulate matter. EPA said in a statement that it “hopes that this action finally puts an end to the myth that the agency is planning to tighten this regulation.”
