“These dust storms are a terrible thing, and it’s going to bring up some peculiar legal cases. If Colorado blows over and lights on top of Kansas, it looks kind of like Kansas ought to pay for the extra topsoil. But Kansas can sue them for covering up their crops.”

You might think these comments were about the dust storm on March 18 in Kansas, just east of the Colorado border. But no, the opening paragraph was written 90 years ago, on March 28, 1935 by Will Rogers. 

The March 18 dust storm in Kansas killed 8 people on I-70. This was eerily similar to one in Illinois on May 1, 2023 that killed 8 more people on I-55.

The dust storms 90 years ago led directly to the creation of the Soil Conservation Service in USDA. You probably know the story. Hugh Hammond Bennett was testifying to Congress when dust from 1,500 miles away clouded out the sun in Washington D.C. during a Congressional hearing. (Probably the best “visual aid” ever used in a persuasive speech.) SCS is now the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and the agency is celebrating their 90th birthday.  

If SCS was formed 90 years ago to eliminate dust storms caused by plowing native grassland, why are we still having dust storms caused by plowing? In 90 years has no one come up with a solution? 

We solved other problems. We know how to prevent polio, measles and typhoid. Today, cars are safer than a…