Senator Eric Schmitt (R-Glendale)
One Missouri lawmaker wants you to cook outside this weekend in a continuing protest of a federal study of backyard barbecue grills.
Missouri State Senator Eric Schmitt (R- Glendale) said he will continue his social media campaign against the Environmental Protection Agency’s support for the design and testing of emissions-reducing grill technology. Schmitt received national attention by starting the hash tag “pork steak rebellion” on Twitter while encouraging people to grill outdoors as a sign of protest.
“It was something that I thought was important to move forward and it’s sort of emblematic of an agency that is out of control,” said Schmitt. “Hopefully people, as they light up the grill this weekend, will keep the rebellion alive.”
Schmitt said the EPA’s $15-thousand study has continued to move forward and he is worried it could lead to the regulation of backyard grills.
“The money has been allocated and they’re looking at a catalytic converter for propane grills, like a double filtration system, I mean it sounds bizarre, but it’s actually true,” said Schmitt. “I guarantee if you did a poll of Americans of whether or not a bunch of un-elected bureaucrats have any business telling you what kind of grill you can have in your backyard it would probably be an overwhelming majority of folks that think they have no business doing that.”
Schmitt had filed a resolution to discourage the EPA from regulating the use of individual propane gas barbecue grills, but it did not pass through the Missouri legislature.
“From St. Louis to Kansas City, and all places in between, we take our barbeque pretty seriously, and so I think it was our opportunity to say don’t mess with our grills,” said Schmitt. “We filed it relatively late in the sense that this thing didn’t pop up until we started the social media movement on it, but at the end of the day whether the resolution passed or it didn’t, I thought we certainly brought some attention to it nationally.”
Schmitt said he will be grilling pork steaks this weekend.
