The Environmental Protection Agency said Friday it would delay issuing final regulations aimed at cutting pollution from factory boilers until April 2012, amid pressure from industry groups and lawmakers.
The EPA decision came just days after a top EPA official publicly touted the health and economic benefits of a separate but similar rule to control mercury emissions from aging coal-fired power plants.
The EPA faces increasing pressure from Congress and business groups to slow down a broad regulatory agenda, including proposals to curb carbon dioxide emissions using the Clean Air Act and several rules aimed at clamping down on emissions from coal-burning power plants.
The boiler rules were the target of a House bill introduced by four Republicans and four Democrats Wednesday that would give the agency 15 months to finalize the boiler rules and allow factories at least five years to comply.
Rep. Fred Upton (R., Mich.), who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said the EPA was still operating on too short a schedule to issue the boiler rules, given its plan to propose standards by the end of October. "The limited time frame EPA has announced will prevent the agency from revising the rules in their entirety and addressing all the difficult technical issues that have been raised," Mr. Upton said.
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson has said stronger controls on emissions of toxic substances such as mercury from boilers would yield a significant improvement to public health.
First, let me ask you a question. Why would you expand or build a new plant in this country when you can go elsewhere and build and not incur the wrath of the environistas in this country?
Sure they're delaying implementation until 2012, but don't you think that company executives think beyond an election cycle before spending millions on production facilities?
Second, I keep hearing about improvement to public health; like California where they're looking to ban all semitractor trailers. But how has public health improved as a result of getting food and medicine to store shelves faster?
Think of a world with no production facilities. We used to call that the 1700's. Are you telling me that the increase in carbon releases is a bad trade off to a time where people we're lucky to live to 40?
So again, I ask the question, who is impacted the most by the fact that companies are flat out afraid to build any kind of serious production capacity in this country.
1) Eminem
2) Steve Jobs
3) An unemployed factory worker
4) Keith Olberman
More....
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