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1359 posts, Feb 2001

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803 posts, Aug 2000

posted 05-21-2001 01:20 AM            

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Bush to keep tough air rules
Environmentalists stunned by retention of Clinton-era rule

By TRACI WATSON / USA TODAY

By
WASHINGTON -- The Bush White House says it is retaining strict air-quality standards that were one of the most controversial legacies of the Clinton administration.
The decision is arguably the biggest victory for environmentalists since President Bush took office.
The standards, announced in 1997, have been on hold while industry groups challenged the government's authority to draw them. In late February, however, the Supreme Court upheld the power of the Environmental Protection Agency to set standards. The court said the timetable for implementing some of them should be reworked, however.
The administration now faces another round of lawsuits that challenge the rules themselves.
"The Supreme Court decision was clear," Bush spokesman Scott McClellan said. "The president supports high standards and efforts to improve air quality."
The rules imposed strict new limits on the allowable levels of two common air pollutants:
-- Soot particles that can lodge deep in the lungs.
-- Ozone, which helps form smog.
The EPA estimated it would cost billions of dollars to achieve the standards, but the agency said the reduction in air pollution mandated by the rules would improve the health of millions of Americans.
To achieve the limits, regulators might have to require dramatic changes to factories, cars and power plants, which produce these pollutants.
EPA spokeswoman Tina Kreisher said the agency will defend the limits against further lawsuits and will implement the rules if they survive legal challenges.
"I'm stunned," said Conrad Schneider of the Clean Air Task Force. The decision "would associate the Bush administration with the biggest environmental decision the Clinton administration made."
The limits are sharply opposed by industry groups, which argue that the EPA had underestimated the rules' costs and overstated their benefits. Some states have joined the legal opposition.
The EPA is conducting a review of the scientific literature on soot. The agency could use the results to weaken the soot standard, but recent studies have strengthened the link between soot and health issues.
Industry groups declined to criticize the decision. "We're delighted to hear that the EPA is reaffirming its commitment to bring sound science to the regulatory process," said Walter McCormick, president of the American Trucking Association, which filed the original lawsuit against the limits.

visionary

The Void
1359 posts, Feb 2001