EPA decides NOT to protect clean air
If you live in one of those heavy industrialized states, like Ohio, and find your eyes watering, and nose running don’t reach for the allergy medicine, reach for the phone and call the White House.
The president, it seems, has once again caved to the Republican power brokers and the industrial giants. Breaking yet another campaign promise to clean up our air and water, Obama has directed the EPA to be more friendly to the carcinogen spewing plants and factories.
Here’s the sad story:
The EPA finalized a new rule to curb industrial pollution this summer; three months later, the agency has proposed to loosen the restrictions in 10 of 27 affected states. The Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, meant to cut power-plant emissions that can blow across state lines, has faced sharp criticism from the industry and the states themselves, who argue the measure could cut jobs and rattle the power supply.
Now, the EPA proposes to allow more emissions from 10 states while giving all 27 states until 2014— two more years than planned—before incurring penalties, the Wall Street Journal reports. The “slight” adjustments to the rule should provide “certainty for utilities as we work together to ensure that we protect the air we all breathe and the jobs of American workers,” the agency said. But for some critics, the EPA hasn’t shifted enough. The Obama administration “effectively concedes that its rules were flawed—but inexplicably refuses to resolve the real defects,” says Texas’ attorney general.
The American people have to ask themselves what they want. Is clean air all that important? How about clean water? Will that be the next axe to fall on our fragile environment? Is the EPA little more than a tool of the special interests?
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