Every day be muck-up day for big biz under Bush Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit source - John Clancy Sydney Morning Herald - June 15, 2002 Every day to be muck-up day for big business under Bush By Gary Polakovic Rules that require a host of industries to strengthen pollution controls when they build new plants or expand old ones will be relaxed, under a Bush Administration proposal. The changes to the Clean Air Act, announced on Thursday by the Environmental Protectional Agency, have been long sought by power companies, chemical companies, paper mill operators and other big industries. Health officials and environmentalists oppose the proposal as a serious blow to Clean Air Act enforcement. The proposed rules are the latest in a series of Bush Administration acts favourable to the energy industry, including its rejection of the Kyoto Treaty, its call for oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and its aim to allow coal companies to dump waste from mountaintop mines into rivers and valleys, a decision recently overturned in federal court. Under the act, the "new source review" requires industrial plants to install modern pollution controls when they undergo renovations beyond "routine" maintenance. Industry and enforcement officials have long been locked in litigation over the meaning of "routine" and what triggers the need for new controls. The EPA's administrator, Christine Todd Whitman, said the Administration wanted to clarify the definition of "routine." She agreed with the utility industry's complaints that the "new source review" has been a stumbling block to modernisation. She said the new source review program "has been beneficial in reducing emissions at new facilities," but had "impeded or resulted in the cancellation of projects that would maintain or improve reliability, efficiency or safety of existing power plants and refineries." Industry officials said that clarifying the terms would give them more certainty in their long-range planning and more flexibility in the short-term. Critics say the proposals give polluters too many breaks and are a product of lobbying. The changes would be among the most ambitious attempts to alter the law in a generation. For more than 25 years, the reviews have been the principal tool regulators used to ensure that business growth does not lead to dirtier air. Since new source review went into effect in 1970, pollution levels have fallen dramatically while the economy has grown substantially. Big business, however, has long considered the program a headache. It requires new or expanding plants to install best available controls, which can cut smokestack pollution by 95 per cent, but cost millions. It could take three years before any new rules come into operation. (Los Angeles Times, The New York Times) ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytlab-06.15.02-18:33:26-18218