Fresh Air

For a change, Bush gets a wrist slap from the EPA:

In a sharp rebuke to President Bush's air pollution program, the Environmental Protection Agency's internal auditor yesterday issued a report saying the administration has "seriously hampered" the EPA's ability to force dirty, coal-fired power plants to install pollution controls.

Nikki L. Tinsley, inspector general of the EPA, said that the Bush administration should reconsider the "dramatic" changes it proposed to requirements for old power plants last October and return to the vigorous enforcement of the Clean Air Act pursued by the Clinton administration.

"It is important that ... enforcement against coal-fired electric utilities continue in the same manner and to the same extent as before the 2003 rule was issued," the report states.

The flip-flop:

In 1996, the EPA began using this "new source review" requirement to target older, dirtier utilities, and this proved to be "an effective approach for requiring utilities to install pollution control devices," the report says.

Seven companies sued by the agency have been required to add air-cleaning systems to 74 power plants, according to the report. The new systems have captured hundreds of thousands of tons of airborne pollutants that cause asthma attacks and other health problems.

Then the Bush administration, in October 2003, switched directions. It stopped filing as many lawsuits, and proposed changes that, among other things, allowed power companies to make improvements worth 20 percent of the cost of a power plant every year without triggering the "new source review" requirements.

Maryland and 13 other states sued, claiming that this overly high percentage would allow older, dirty power plants to essentially rebuild themselves over five years without ever adding modern pollution control equipment.

Part of the rebuke involves Bush's plan to use "credit trading programs." This means if I run a plant that over produces, I pay a sum of money to make up for it.

Now I ask you, when's the last time you wanted you son or daughter to have clean dollar bills to breathe and drink?