|
Comment on this article |
View comments |
Email this Article
|
|
News :: Miscellaneous |
|
Clean Air Trust Assails Bush Plan to Weaken Clean Air Act |
Current rating: 0 |
by Clean Air Trust
(No verified email address) |
13 Jun 2002
Modified: 14 Jun 2002 |
|
Enforcement Plan Would 'Create Loopholes, Threaten Enforcement' |
WASHINGTON - June 13 - The nonprofit Clean Air Trust today assailed the Bush Administration's new plan to weaken the Clean Air Act.
"The plan announced today by the Environmental Protection Agency will undermine the Clean Air Act by creating gaping new loopholes that will allow big polluters to increase pollution," said Frank O'Donnell, executive director of the Clean Air Trust.
O'Donnell added "this plan appears to pose a direct threat to the enforcement actions that EPA has brought against electric power companies, refineries and other smokestack industries." He noted those industries "illegally modified their plants without installing new cleanup controls."
O'Donnell noted that EPA was responding to heavy lobbying by industry groups led by such powerful lobbyists as Haley Barbour, former Republican National Committee Chairman and current RNC Chairman Mark Racicot. They have lobbied the Bush Administration and Congress on behalf of defendants -- including Southern Company.
"Lawsuits were brought against these companies for violating the so-called new source review provisions of the law," O'Donnell noted. "Their defense was that they were only doing routine maintenance. But now the Bush Administration seeks to change the definition of routine maintenance," O'Donnell noted.
"This looks like nothing more than an engraved invitation to powerful campaign contributors," O'Donnell added.
"It is remarkable that the announcement, not expected for several months, has been rushed out on the eve of a massive Republican fundraiser scheduled for next Wednesday." |
See also:
http://www.cleanairtrust.org
|
|
President Bush to Raise Money in America's Smoggiest City |
by Sierra Club
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
14 Jun 2002
|
President Bush to Raise Money in America's Smoggiest City One Day After Weakening Clean Air Act
HOUSTON - June 14 - One day after weakening clean air protections on more than 1,700 old power plants, refineries and other polluters, President Bush is travelling to one of America's smoggiest city to raise money. Home to a number of energy giants, including Enron, Houston is currently violating Clean Air Act limits for asthma-causing ground level ozone. In the last three years, Houston residents have been exposed to ozone smog more often and at higher concentrations than residents of any other city in the United States. Sierra Club members are joining with other concerned citizens today in front of the downtown Houston Hyatt Regency to demonstrate their opposition to this weakening of clean air protections that will have a profoundly negative effect on Texas' air.
"It's incredibly ironic that one day after weakening the Clean Air Act, President Bush returns to the center of the energy industry to collect more money," said George Smith of the Sierra Club. "To let polluting energy companies off the hook one day, and then raise money two blocks from Enron headquarters the next, sends a disturbing message to the thousands of Houston children with asthma and other respiratory diseases."
Yesterday's announcement will weaken "New Source Review," an important Clean Air Act program that requires antiquated power plants and factories to install modern pollution-control equipment when they expand. Today's announcement creates loopholes, so that some old facilities will be able to increase pollution without installing modern pollution fighting technology.
"If anything, Houston is the perfect example for why the Clean Air Act should be strengthened, not weakened," said Marshall Stair. "Houston residents want nearby industrial plants to clean up their act. But while the Bush Administration courts Houston energy executives, they are turning their backs on the health of our children."
http://www.sierraclub.org |
