Bush gives power plants a get-out on pollution control
mar...@myrealbox.com
By Andrew Gumbel in Los Angeles
23 August 2003
The Bush administration is planning to overturn a key provision of the
Clean Air Act, in effect giving industrial companies a green light to
update their facilities without regard for pollution controls,
according to a White House document leaked yesterday.
The measure would save firms hundreds of millions of dollars while
significantly increasing industrial emissions and almost certainly
contributing to global warming.
At least until it was leaked, the administration's Environmental
Protection Agency was due to make its final ruling on modifying the
1972 Clean Air Act in the next few days. It appears the White House
wanted to draw as little attention to the change as possible, choosing
a moment when Congress is not in session and when the position of EPA
administrator is temporarily vacant.
Critics nevertheless wasted no time in denouncing the administration's
plans. Jim Jeffords, the Vermont senator who quit the Republican Party
within months of President George Bush coming to power, described the
proposed new ruling as a "flagrant violation" of federal law. Eliot
Spitzer, the attorney general of New York state, told The New York
Times he would sue the administration as soon as it came into effect.
He said: "This makes it patently clear that the Bush administration
has meant all along to repeal the Clean Air Act by administrative
fiat."
The administration itself has refused to comment, saying the ruling
was still under review. According to the leaked document, first
obtained by a high-profile environmental lobbying group, the EPA plans
to expand the definition of "routine maintenance" on industrial plants
to include major overhauls and new equipment. "Routine maintenance",
exempting companies from environmental protection controls, would be
defined under the new rules as anything up to 20 per cent of the total
cost of the whole facility.
According to the lobby group, the National Resources Defence Council,
the new rules would invalidate a slew of recent litigation brought
against power plants by the Justice Department. It would also give
power companies - among the administration's staunchest supporters -
virtual carte blanche to expand their facilities as they please.
"The Bush administration, using an arbitrary, Enron-like accounting
gimmick, is authorising massive pollution increases to benefit Bush
campaign contributors at the expense of public health," said John
Walke, director of NRDC's Clean Air Project.
The measure would be the latest in a series of rollbacks of key
environmental protection regulations. Already in the works are plans
to rewrite the Clean Water Act in ways that would allow industries to
dredge, fill or dump waste into streams and wetlands, according to the
NRDC. The Pentagon is also seeking sweeping exemptions from federal
environmental laws for its military bases, including exemption from an
estimated $28bn (#17.7bn) in litigation costs arising from previous
violations.
Intriguingly, the looser Clean Air standards have been the subject of
an internal fight within the administration over the past two years.
They were staunchly resisted by Christine Todd Whitman, the EPA
administrator who resigned earlier this summer after one fight too
many with her deregulation-happy adversaries.
The anti-clean air lobby has been led by Dick Cheney, the
Vice-President and architect of the administration's much-debated
national energy policy. He appears to be taking advantage of Ms
Whitman's departure, and the hiatus before the arrival of her
nominated successor, Mike Leavitt, to push the new rules through.
23 August 2003 23:44
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=436354