EPA Rule Fights Could Help Build Case For Post-Election Air Law Reform

摘要

Fights among lawmakers, states, environmentalists and industry over major EPA air programs are unlikely to lead to any long-sought revisions to the Clean Air Act in the politically divided 112th Congress, sources say, but the disputes are expected to intensity next year and could help build the case for a post-election push to reform the air law. The Clean Air Act, originally signed into law in 1970, last underwent a major overhaul with the 1990 air law amendments signed by President George H. W. Bush. Since then, observers say a number of new problems have emerged that warrant addressing through air law revisions, including greenhouse gases (GHGs), ever-tightening ambient air quality standards and major problems with states' requirements to craft plans to meet EPA air standards. Environmentalists say that Congress as of late has shown little interest in substantive Clean Air Act reform, with focus instead on bills that would delay or block EPA air rules for boilers, power plants and other stationary sources. "They're doing more of these attacks on specific rules, and the reason for that I believe is that they're not really serious. These are more message votes," Frank O'Donnell of the activist group Clean Air Watch said. "This is really playing politics more than anything else," he told an Oct. 20 Environmental Law Institute (ELI) seminar in Washington, DC.