US tightens smog limits in bid to protect health
Source: AP-Excite
By JOSH LEDERMAN and DINA CAPPIELLO
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a fresh confrontation with Republicans, the Obama administration on Wednesday proposed stricter emissions limits on smog-forming pollution linked to asthma and respiratory illness. The move fulfilled a long-delayed campaign promise by President Barack Obama but left environmental and public health groups wanting more.
Business groups panned the Environmental Protection Agency's new ozone regulations as unnecessary and the costliest in history, warning they could jeopardize a resurgence in American manufacturing. But EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy argued that the public health benefits far outweigh the costs and that most of the U.S. can meet the tougher standards without doing anything new.
"We need to be smart — as we always have — in trying to find the best benefits in a way that will continue to grow the economy," McCarthy said. Of reducing ozone, she added: "We've done it before, and we're on track to do it again."
Ozone joins a long list of pollutants that Obama has wanted to limit using EPA regulations, seeking to cement an environmental legacy by sidestepping Congress and its opposition to new pollution laws. After pledging during his first presidential campaign to tighten ozone limits, Obama backtracked in 2011 by yanking the EPA's proposed ozone limits amid intense pressure from industry and the GOP. At the time, Obama said it was important to cut regulatory red tape while the economy was recovering from the Great Recession.
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FILE - In this June 2, 2014 file photo, a hill of coal is seen at the North Omaha Station, a coal-burning power station, in Omaha, Neb. The Environmental Protection Agency will announce Wednesday, Nov. 26, a preferred range of 65 to 70 parts per billion to reduce the amount of smog-forming pollution allowed in the air, people familiar with the proposal told The Associated Press. The agency's scientific advisers had endorsed a standard as low as 60 parts per billion. The current standard is 75 parts per billion, put in place by President George W. Bush in 2008. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik, File)
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