EPA Delays New Smog Rules
Politico reports:
The Obama administration will delay issuing a new smog reduction plan, the second controversial air pollution rule the Environmental Protection Agency has punted in the past two days.
EPA was facing a court deadline to finalize its national air quality rule for ozone, or smog, by Dec. 31, but the agency is now planning to delay the rule until next July, spokesman Brendan Gilfillan confirmed Wednesday.
On Tuesday, EPA announced it would delay a major air toxics rule for industrial boilers, such as those used at oil refineries and paper mills, after coming under fire from myriad industry groups and lawmakers claiming it would cripple the economy.
With lawmakers on both sides of the aisle vowing to work to scale back EPA regulations in the next session, many attribute EPA’s delays to political motivations. The incoming GOP majority in the House has pledged to limit many of the pending EPA rules they see as overreaching, including the smog standard and the boiler air toxics rule.
“I guess the handwriting was on the wall when the EPA announced yesterday that it was stalling a final decision on rules to clean up poisons from industrial boilers,” said Frank O’Donnell, president of the advocacy group Clean Air Watch. “It is hard to avoid the impression that EPA is running scared from the incoming Congress.”
This is the third time EPA has stalled its final smog standard. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced in 2009 that her agency would tighten the George W. Bush administration’s final standard, arguing that it fell short of protecting public health.
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