More distressing news from the Environmental Pardon Agency. It just keeps coming.
A change in enforcement policy will lead the Environmental Protection Agency to drop investigations into 50 power plants for past violations of the Clean Air Act, lawyers at the agency who were briefed on the decision this week said.The lawyers said in interviews on Wednesday that the decision meant the cases would be judged under new, less stringent rules set to take effect next month, rather than the stricter rules in effect at the time the investigations began.
The lawyers said the new rules include exemptions that would make it almost impossible to sustain the investigations into the plants, which are scattered around the country and owned by 10 utilities.
The lawyers said the change grew out of a recommendation by Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force, which urged the government two years ago to study industry complaints about its enforcement actions. The Bush administration has said its goal is to ensure cost-effective improvements to air quality. (via the New York Times)
Four Observations:
1. Dick Cheney needs to get his fat finger out of environmental policy.
2. Our children, not to mention the nation’s trees and wildlife, will be irreparably harmed if Bush is allowed to keep handing out his environmental pardons.
3. Under Bush II, the interests of the planet are less important than those of campaign cash-wielding polluters. It seems that buying off Bush is cheaper than paying to clean up outdated factories.
4. No wonder Christine Todd Whitman quit.
