Lawmakers Want To Drop Farm Exemption
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Federal regulators are asking California lawmakers to get rid of a law that gives farms an exemption from some federal air pollution.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says the state needs to get the exemption off the books to help air regulators enforce a new plan they devised to clean up the air. The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District is in charge of one of the dirtiest air basins in the nation.
Valley air regulators´ have already decided to get rid of the exemption and institute a permitting program instead. But the EPA worries that with the exemption still on the state´s books, the valley regulators won´t be able to enforce their permit plan. State lawmakers say the effort to change the law is already under way.
