Thanks to David Orr for sending this NY Times article. A Knight Ridder article about this issue was also in today's DM Register. In the NY Times article pasted below: "Officials pointed to new data, released today, showing that air quality in the United States had gotten cleaner in recent decades even as economic growth had surged. Total emissions had declined by 48 percent since 1970, Bush administration officials said, adding that the new source review had been incidental to that trend." However, the Knight Ridder article went on to say: "But missing from the president's speech and buried deep within the EPA report was the key fact on smog: The number of days when smog levels violated federal health standards has increased since the president took office..........EPA's internal records.........show that after decreasing through the 1990s, the number of smog days increased in 2001 and jumped dramatically in 2002." Jane Clark New York Times Bush Defends New Environmental Rules http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/16/politics/16BUSH.html?th September 16, 2003 Bush Defends New Environmental Rules By RACHEL L. SWARNS MONROE, Mich., Sept. 15 - President Bush toured one of the nation's largest power plants today and hailed the sprawling complex here as a symbol of how the relaxation of clean air rules would boost the economy and protect the environment. After donning a white hard hat and viewing the roaring turbine generators at the Detroit Edison plant here, Mr. Bush told cheering workers that cumbersome and complicated government regulations had prevented the plant from upgrading to cleaner and more efficient generators for nearly five years. Last month, in one of the most far-reaching environmental decisions of his tenure, Mr. Bush eliminated those rules, allowing thousands of power plants, refineries and factories to make extensive upgrades that increase pollutants without having to install new antipollution devices. The president said other regulations, as well as the passage of his bill known as the Clear Skies initiative, would keep the air clean. "Regulations intended to enhance air quality made it really difficult for companies to do that which is necessary, to not only produce more energy, but to do it in a cleaner way," Mr. Bush said today. "It makes sense to change these regulations. It makes sense for the workplace environment. It makes sense for the protection of the air." But the trip to the Detroit plant, intended as a broad defense of the Bush administration's clean air policy, quickly reignited the fierce debate between government officials and environmental groups. While Mr. Bush was greeting workers, environmentalists said the relaxation of clean air rules known as the new source review would allow this plant to increase emissions by more than 30,000 tons a year, a 56 percent increase over current levels. The groups also noted that the government's own analysis of the effect of the Clear Skies bill found that the Monroe plant would not decrease its emissions of soot-forming sulfur dioxide. In 2001, the plant emitted 102,700 tons of sulfur dioxide, according to the Environmental Protection Agency analysis, which was released in July. The plant, which provides electricity to 2.1 million people, is expected to continue to emit 102,700 tons of soot if the proposal becomes law. "The very power plant the president has chosen to spotlight today demonstrates that his policies won't work," said Conrad Schneider, the advocacy director of the Clean Air Task Force, an environmental group. "We want to see real power plant cleanup legislation that will protect the health of every American." Senator James M. Jeffords, the Vermont independent and ranking minority member on the Environment and Public Works Committee, echoed those concerns. He described Mr. Bush's policies as "the exact opposite of what the nation needs." "The administration's deregulatory agenda, specifically the gutting of the new source review program, will lead to more pollution and therefore more disease and premature deaths," Mr. Jeffords said. Government officials dismissed the concerns raised by environmental groups. "They're wrong," said James L. Connaughton, chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality, a White House advisory group. Officials pointed to new data, released today, showing that air quality in the United States had gotten cleaner in recent decades even as economic growth had surged. Total emissions had declined by 48 percent since 1970, Bush administration officials said, adding that the new source review had been incidental to that trend. Eliminating the rules will allow companies to modernize more easily, leading to greater efficiency, officials said, while other regulations will continue to promote clean skies. "The air must, as a matter of law and as a matter of the will of this administration, must get better," Mr. Connaughton said. "What we are talking about today are the sensible policies, the smart ways to achieve those results while promoting economic growth." Government officials and company executives said Detroit Edison planned to reduce its emissions despite the conclusions of the Environmental Protection Agency analysis. Mr. Bush also called today for mandatory reliability standards for the country's electrical grid and for passage of the Clear Skies initiative, which seeks to cut emissions from all power plants by 70 percent by 2018, but would not impose the standard uniformly, allowing operators to trade "pollution credits" - the right to pollute - among themselves. "I expect Congress to act," Mr. Bush said of the bill. "Instead of playing politics with environmental legislation, we need to come together and do what's right for American workers and American families." Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To view the Sierra Club List Terms & Conditions, see: http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/terms.asp