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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Richard S who wrote (457461)	9/11/2003 9:25:03 PM
From: Krowbar	Respond to of 769670

Cheney Didn't Clear Air, And Now Bush Refuses Sep 05 - Palm Beach Post If it wasn't clear before last week, it has become obvious why Vice President Dick Cheney didn't want to tell the public who made Bush administration energy policy. First, the Environmental Protection Agency approved a complicated rule change that undercuts the three-decade-old Clean Air Act. More than 17,000 industrial and energy plants will be able to expand or increase capacity without having to add pollution-control equipment. The firms that could benefit by the billions gave by the millions to the Bush-Cheney campaign, and their executives and lobbyists were the heavy hitters on Mr. Cheney's secret energy task force. In addition, the EPA lacking a permanent administrator - announced that the agency has no power to regulate carbon dioxide, which scientists believe is the main cause of global warming. Only Congress, the EPA ruled, can draw up rules to regulate the emissions, most of which come from the burning of fossil fuels. Many of the industries that wanted such a ruling also had lobbied for the exemption to the Clean Air Act. The changes to the Clean Air Act don't make sense from a public- health standpoint. The changes don't make sense from an environmental standpoint. And, ironically, the changes don't make sense from a business standpoint. Instead, they reward in particular the power companies responsible for last month's blackout, the same companies that plan to assess customers for repairs the companies didn't make. It was telling that the Bush administration announced the changes on a Friday, the traditional day for releasing controversial news. The president and Mr. Cheney would offer the unpersuasive argument that the changes help the country by freeing power firms from burdensome regulation. In fact, demanding pollution upgrades reduces the nation's power bill by making companies more energy efficient, thus reducing operating costs. Purchase of "green" technology also increases business spending and helps the economy. No public comment is necessary for the rules to take effect. Fortunately for the rest of America, Northeastern states that are downwind from the Midwest's dirty - dirtier, if Mr. Bush has his way - power plants almost certainly will sue, claiming that the rule changes violate the Clean Air Act. The Clinton administration filed many lawsuits against polluting plants. Under Mr. Bush, the EPA has not surrendered, but dropping the pollution standards would leave the agency less to enforce. Using one of his typically Orwellian labels, Mr. Bush calls this his Clear Skies Initiative. Improving the air by allowing more pollutants into it sounds like the kind of energy policy that only a group of polluters could draw up. Oops. That's right. They did. energycentral.com Del