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Politics : Don't Blame Me, I Voted For Kerry -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Alan Smithee who wrote (28439)	6/4/2004 3:23:30 PM
From: Skywatcher	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 81568

BUSH CONTINUES TO PANDER TO POLLUTING INDUSTRIES EPA Relied on Industry for Plywood Plant Pollution Rule By Alan C. Miller and Tom Hamburger The Los Angeles Times Friday 21 May 2004 WASHINGTON - Pushing aside new scientific studies of possible health risks, the Environmental Protection Agency approved an air pollution regulation this year that could save the wood products industry hundreds of millions of dollars. In doing so, the agency relied on a risk assessment generated by a chemical industry-funded think tank, and a novel legal approach recommended by a timber industry lawyer. The regulation was ushered through the agency by senior officials with previous ties to the timber and chemical industries. The officials say they advocate a balanced approach to environmental regulation that weighs costs as well as benefits. Their critics say science and public health are losing out. "This rulemaking veers radically from standard scientific and regulatory practices," said David Michaels, an epidemiologist who was assistant Energy secretary for environment, safety and health in the Clinton administration. Others say it may violate the Clean Air Act. The regulation addresses emissions of formaldehyde, a chemical used by plywood manufacturers and other industries. Exposure to formaldehyde may cause cancer and lead to nausea and eye, throat and skin irritation. At the time the regulation was being drafted, the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health disclosed new studies showing that exposure to formaldehyde might also cause leukemia in humans. The EPA rule, signed in February, did not mention the possible link to leukemia. Instead, it adopted a standard for exposure based on a cancer risk model developed by the Chemical Industry Institute of Toxicology. That assessment is about 10,000 times less stringent than the level previously used by the EPA in setting general standards for formaldehyde exposure. Many scientists considered the earlier EPA risk level to be outdated; Canada, for example, used the chemical institute model to help set its formaldehyde standard in 2000. But the accuracy of that model in predicting human risk was a source of debate even before the new leukemia studies. Citing such concerns, a California scientific advisory panel voted unanimously this week to reject a formaldehyde industry request to reconsider the state's risk assessment of the toxic gas. Panel members said the chemical institute's model needed further development and validation. The new EPA rule also breaks legal ground in the application of the 1990 Clean Air Act amendments. At that time, Congress required industry to reduce emissions of toxic pollutants to levels that could be achieved by the best available technology. But it permitted the EPA to spare entire categories of pollution sources from tough controls if all posed less than a one-in-a-million cancer risk. As the wood products regulation was being considered, it was clear the industry could not meet that test. Instead, the EPA created a new category of "low-risk" plants, putting the agency in the role of overseeing, plant by plant, which facilities endangered the public. The rule initially exempts eight wood products plants from controls on formaldehyde and other emissions. Ultimately, 147 or more of the 223 facilities nationwide could avoid the pollution-control requirements. The exemptions will save the industry as much as $66 million annually for about 10 years in potential emission control costs. The idea of identifying low-risk plants was suggested to the EPA by a lawyer at the firm of Latham & Watkins, which represents timber interests. The EPA's top air pollution regulator, Jeffrey R. Holmstead, embraced the concept. He was already familiar with it. A former lawyer at Latham & Watkins himself, he had represented one of the nation's largest plywood producers and other companies seeking to limit pollution regulation. "The basic approach was something that I had been thinking about for a number of years," said Holmstead, assistant EPA administrator for air and radiation. He also backed the EPA's use of the scientific data from the institute funded by the American chemical industry, another former client. At the White House, Holmstead found an ally in John D. Graham, regulatory chief of the Office of Management and Budget. He had established the respected Harvard Center for Risk Analysis, which received funding from some of the companies that pushed the new EPA regulation. Graham came to OMB vowing to set new standards for cost-benefit analysis, transparency and reliance on sound science in regulatory decisions. "Public health should be the regulator's first priority," Graham said in a written response to questions. "However, when the health risks are speculative, it is OMB's job to ask whether the regulation will be good for consumers, workers and businesses. Consumers pay for burdensome regulations in the form of higher prices for homes and products while American jobs are placed at risk." Some agency veterans say the EPA's approach departs from past practices under both political parties. "EPA decisions now have a consistent pattern: disregard for inconvenient facts, a tilt toward industry, and a penchant for secrecy," said Eric Schaeffer, a longtime EPA enforcement official who resigned in protest in 2002 and now heads the Environmental Integrity Project, a watchdog group.