Amongst the 3415 new regulations Team Obama is quietly implementing, this is one that I actually rather agree with
(NY Times) Â The Obama administration is expected to release on Wednesday a contentious and long-delayed environmental regulation to curb emissions of ozone, a smog-causing pollutant linked to asthma, heart disease and premature death.
The sweeping regulation, which would aim at smog from power plants and factories across the country, particularly in the Midwest, would be the latest in a series of Environmental Protection Agency controls on air pollution that wafts from smokestacks and tailpipes. Such regulations, released under the authority of the Clean Air Act, have become a hallmark of President Obama’s administration.
Environmentalists and public health advocates have praised the E.P.A. rules as a powerful environmental legacy. Republicans, manufacturers and the fossil fuel industry have sharply criticized them as an example of costly government overreach.
The proposed regulation would lower the current threshold for ozone pollution from 75 parts per billion to a range of 65 to 70 parts per billion, according to people familiar with the plan. That range is less stringent than the standard of 60 parts per billion sought by environmental groups, but the E.P.A. proposal would also seek public comment on a 60 parts-per-billion plan, keeping open the possibility that the final rule could be stricter.
Yes, this can put a burden on industry and business, but, unlike “climate change” regulations, ozone can be a dangerous pollutant and have a negative effect on health. Many fossil fuels and other businesses are complaining, and certainly those costs can be passed on. But, this is something that is what the Environmental Protection Act is about, and the lowering of the ozone ppm over the years has become barely known.
That said, we’ll have to see how this shakes out, and what products it effects and at what cost.
Of course, Obama has been sitting on this since prior to the 2012 general election
The E.P.A. had planned to release the new ozone rule in August of 2011, but as Republicans and powerful industry groups prepared to go on attack against the plan, Mr. Obama decided to delay its release, fearing that opposition to the regulation would hurt his re-election chances in 2012.
At the time, Mr. Obama said the regulation would impose too severe a burden on industry and local governments at a time of economic distress.
Interesting: he put his re-election above the health of citizens.
