EPA Backs Down From Industrial Polluters, Again
Several months ago, the Environmental Protection Agency Administrator, Lisa Jackson, announced that the agency had confirmed its suspicion that greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, pose a threat to human health and welfare (Care2).
This finding had been almost three years in the making, as it was April of 2007 when the Supreme Court ruled that if emissions of greenhouse gases can be shown to be hazardous to human health, they could indeed be regulated by the EPA under the Clean Air Act.
Despite the fact that stricter regulations on industrial polluters could have a huge impact on air quality and the health of millions of innocent Americans, climate change deniers and huge corporations have been making life hell for the EPA over this finding.
Instead of standing strong and requiring that these companies submit to strict emissions regulations and penalties for exceeding their pollution “limits,” the EPA is watering down their position, once again.
The New York Times reports:
Facing wide criticism over their recent finding that greenhouse gases endanger the public welfare, top EPA officials said Monday that any regulation of such gases would be phased in gradually and would not impose expensive new rules on most American businesses.
Heaven forbid the EPA should impose a RULE that costs these multi-billion dollar companies some money!!?! Money they’re making from dirty practices that are destroying the planet that will leave in shambles to their own children.
Details about the EPA’s back down were shared in a recent press release in which the administrator outlines several of the decisions she has made for 2010-2011:
- No facility will be required to address greenhouse gas emissions in Clean Air Act permitting of new construction or modifications before 2011.
- For the first half of 2011, only facilities that already must apply for Clean Air Act permits as a result of their non-greenhouse gas emissions will need to address their greenhouse gas emissions in their permit applications.
- EPA is also considering a modification to the rule announced in September requiring large facilities emitting more than 25,000 tons of greenhouse gases a year to obtain permits demonstrating they are using the best practices and technologies to minimize GHG emissions. EPA is considering raising that threshold substantially to reflect input provided during the public comment process.
- EPA does not intend to subject smaller facilities to Clean Air Act permitting for greenhouse gas emissions any sooner than 2016.
What do you think? Does this move simply demonstrate that the EPA is a fallacy, or are these looser regulations necessary to get businesses on board…eventually?
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Where's the "Protection" portion of the Environmental Agency?