Playing Stall Ball On Clean Air (TomPaine.com)

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Playing Stall Ball On Clean Air
Frank O'Donnell
May 17, 2007


Frank O'Donnell is president of Clean Air Watch, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization aimed at educating the public about clean air and the need for an effective Clean Air Act.

Several decades ago, a popular strategy emerged in college basketball known as the “four corners” offense.

It was a stall tactic—made famous by the University of North Carolina—used to retain a lead by holding onto the ball until the clock ran out.

President Bush has borrowed this stall-ball strategy as a way to delay efforts by California and other states to reduce global warming pollution from motor vehicles.

The Double-Dribbler-in-Chief rolled out the plan this week, ordering the EPA to pass the ball back and forth with three cabinet departments before settling on any plan to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

The executive order demanded that EPA seek “concurrence” from the other departments, with the White House Office of Management and Budget and the industry-friendly Council on Environmental Quality supervising the game.

In other words, the White House wrapped the EPA in a straitjacket of bureaucratic process designed to prevent fast-break action. .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/05/17/playing_stall_ball_on_clean_air.php