Bush gives power plants a get-out on pollution control
"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. "
news.independent.co.uk
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.
24 August 2003 22:43 |
